Found_Hamilton's Heroes series

by Annabella Michaels

  “Edith is a pretty amazing woman, isn’t she?” he said warmly.

  “Yeah, she’s amazing,” I agreed.

  We watched as Bear got up and took off after a butterfly, then we turned to each other. The earlier tension I’d felt from him seemed to have disappeared and warmth spread through my belly as he smiled at me.

  “So, you never answered my question,” I said as we walked around the side of the cabin and stopped at the little shed Edith had so I could grab a couple of hammers and nails.

  “What question was that?” Jeremy asked.

  “If you really made those muffins,” I reminded him.

  “Yeah, I did. My mom loved to bake, said it relaxed her when she was stressed.” He shook his head with a chuckle. “Come to think of it, we always had something freshly baked lying around the house. I wonder if raising me stressed her out?”

  “I bet you got into plenty of trouble growing up,” I laughed, picturing a young, red-headed Jeremy in my mind.

  “Yeah, I saw my fair share of the principal’s office,” he admitted with a laugh. “Anyway, I liked hanging out with my mom and since she was always baking, I’d help her out. She was one of those cool moms who really listened instead of nagging all the time, you know?”

  “She sounds great,” I said wistfully. I could barely remember my mother at all, and the memories I did have of her were clouded by the pain and grief and fear that had consumed my childhood.

  “She was,” Jeremy said wistfully. I turned my head to look at him and I could see the pain in his eyes. “I lost her about three years ago.”

  “I’m so sorry,” I said. I started to reach for him, but then let my hand drop back to my side as I thought better of it.

  We slowed down as we reached the fence line and began making our way around the perimeter, looking for any gaps or broken areas. It was hot out, but the trees along the fence line made it feel much cooler. We took our time, talking as we made repairs. Our conversation moved to lighter topics and I was relieved to see Jeremy’s smile return.

  As usual, I enjoyed my time with him. He was a great guy with an intelligent view of the world and a sharp wit. I’d always done well in school and had wanted to go to college, but then life got in the way. It felt good to use my mind as the two of us debated political and religious views. I hadn’t had anyone that challenged me the way Jeremy did, and I looked forward to it each day.

  “Look! There’s deer out there,” Jeremy said, pointing to the woods in front of us.

  “Yeah. They’re the reason the fence is here,” I told him.

  “You mean they stay here all the time? Like pets?” he asked, his forehead scrunching up adorably.

  “Sort of,” I chuckled. “See how they’re all limping?”

  Jeremy tilted his head as he observed the deer moving around then looked back at me, his eyes wide. “They only have three legs!”

  I folded my arms and leaned them on the top rail of the fence, resting my chin on them. “Yeah, it’s sad really. The deer like to bed down in the tall grass along the highway and sometimes they can’t get out of the way of the state mowers in time,” I explained. “That’s what happened to these little guys, so the local vet called Edith and asked if she could keep them here. She set up this fenced-in area where they could grow until they were fully healed and could be released back into the wild.”

  “That’s so sad, but it’s also really awesome of Edith to take care of them like that,” Jeremy said.

  “Some people think she’s crazy for taking in all these animals when she already has so many other things to do. But Edith is one of those rare and wonderful people that never turns away anything that needs her. It makes no difference to her whether it’s the two-legged, four-legged or in this case, three-legged variety. I’m grateful too, because when I needed a job and a place to stay, she took me in, no questions asked. I guess in some respects, I’m no different from her other strays,” I said quietly.

  Jeremy remained silent and I looked over my shoulder at him. I figured he was still watching the deer, but he was staring at me instead. The look in his eyes was thoughtful, as if he were trying to work something out in his mind, but there was also a tenderness there that had me wishing I could turn around and bury my face in his chest.

  “I’m glad you found her, then,” he said sincerely. “But don’t sell yourself short; you’re no stray.” My heart hammered in my chest as Jeremy’s gaze dropped to my lips and held there.

  “We ugh…we better finish fixing the fence,” I stammered.

  I turned away, but not before I saw the sexy smirk that lifted the corner of Jeremy’s lips. The man had a way of scrambling my brain. I spent the rest of the morning forcing myself to focus on my work, so I wouldn’t do something stupid like hammer my thumb…or grab him and slam my lips on his.

  When we were finished with the fence, we ate lunch together at a picnic table down by the edge of the lake, which had become our routine. As usual, the banter between me and Jeremy kept us laughing all throughout our meal. Occasionally, I would catch him looking at me with that same, almost hungry look in his eyes as before, and I’d try to pretend I hadn’t noticed. But then, my eyes would wander to him when he wasn’t looking, and I’d notice the way his skin had turned a warm golden color from working outdoors, or the way the muscles in his arms bunched beneath the sleeve of his T-shirt as he moved.

  He really was gorgeous, but even more than that, he was a good and kind man. It was exhilarating and scary all at the same time to finally have someone who I considered a friend. My life hadn’t exactly allowed for much in the way of friendships. I’d always carried too many secrets, had too many skeletons in my closet to be able to let anyone get too close, but somehow, Jeremy had wormed his way in.

  He had told me a lot about himself already and I was starting to feel guilty for not sharing anything personal with him. Luckily, it didn’t seem to have bothered Jeremy—yet. He seemed to understand that I wasn’t fully comfortable with talking about myself. Eventually though, I knew I’d have to start opening up, or risk losing the only friend I’d ever had.

  I tilted my head under the spray and let the hot water from the shower soothe the ache in my muscles. After repairing Edith’s fence the day before, Zach and I had spent the rest of the afternoon chopping firewood and tying it into bundles to be sold to the fishermen for their firepits. It had been hard work and had left my muscles burning, but just like all the other jobs I’d done around the lake, it was more fun because of the company I’d had.

  Zach was smart and sexy and fun to be around, and I looked forward to our time together, probably more than I should. In fact, I knew I shouldn’t be getting as close to him as I was, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. When I was away from him, I spent all my time thinking about him and when I was with him, I was happier than I could ever remember being. He had some strange sort of hold on me that I’d never experienced before, but I had to admit that I kind of liked it.

  It was getting harder and harder to hold back from what I really wanted to do, which was grab him and kiss the hell out of him. I’d come very close the day before. Listening to him talk about being a stray that Edith had taken in had nearly killed me. I’d wanted to pull him into my arms and tell him that he was one of the most amazing men I’d ever met.

  Zach had pulled away before I’d gotten the chance and, while I was disappointed, it was probably for the best. After all, I was there to do a job and I had yet to determine whether Zach was actually Zane or not. Micah was counting on me to find him and bring him back to Chicago, but the more time I spent with Zach, the more the lines got blurred. If Zach turned out to not be Zane, it would kill me to have to leave and continue my search, and if he was Zane…well, I suppose I’d just have to cross that bridge when I got to it.

  I quickly finished washing then turned the water off and reached for a towel to dry myself. After shaving the scruff from my face and brushing my teeth, I went to my room to get dressed. I’d jus
t finished pulling my clothes on when my laptop binged, letting me know that I needed to log on for my weekly video conference with the guys. I sat down on the edge of my bed and set the laptop up on the table beside me. Soon, I could see the faces of my friends and I smiled as we all greeted each other.

  “Hey! How’s everybody doing?” Micah asked. After we’d all confirmed that we were good, he got down to business. “Most of you are out on assignments right now, so I’d like to go through the group and see what’s going on with each of you.”

  I listened as, one by one, my friends gave us a brief rundown of their assignments. Carlos was still assigned to the politician from hell, while Nolan and Josh were working together to figure out who was threatening a popular all-girl band. Brandon was at home in Chicago, setting up a new security system for a business that had been robbed. We continued around the group and when it was my turn, all eyes turned to me.

  “I don’t have much to report. I’m still working at the lake, but I haven’t been able to clearly identify Zane yet,” I told them.

  “Have you gotten close to him, so you can start pressing him for information?” Micah asked.

  I knew that Micah was anxious to have everything settled, and that he’d been patiently waiting for me to find Zane and take him back to Chicago, but I just couldn’t bring myself to pressure Zach for information. I could tell that he was finally starting to trust me, but that trust was fragile. He didn’t give it away freely and I didn’t want to ruin anything by moving too quickly.

  While all that was true, there was another part of me, the selfish part of me, that just wanted more time with Zach. I knew that once I figured out if he was Zane or not, everything would change. I’d have to take him back to Chicago and then he’d face whatever it was Micah wanted him for. Whether it was jail time or something else entirely, I had no clue, but I knew that it would change things, and I liked how things were. I liked the direction our friendship was headed, and I was curious to see what could happen between us. So, I did the only thing I could do, I lied.

  “We don’t really see each other all that much. The job’s been keeping us pretty busy, but don’t worry, I’ll keep trying,” I said.

  The lie tasted bitter on my tongue. I hated lying, but lately that seemed to be all I did. I was lying to Zach by not being honest about why I was there, and I had just lied to my closest friends, the people who I considered family. And they believed me because they trusted me.

  Guilt weighed heavily on my shoulders as they continued on with the meeting, but I saw Brandon giving me a strange look. He was my best friend, and probably knew me better than anyone else, and I wondered if he’d been able to tell I was lying. I quickly averted my gaze, focusing my attention on Greg, who was the last one to speak.

  “Alright, guys, I’ve got a busy day, so let’s wrap this up,” Micah said when Greg had finished.

  “You ever going to tell us what’s going on?” Greg asked him. “You’ve been sneaking off for all these early morning, private meetings lately. I know you’re not just getting down and dirty with that sexy husband of yours because you usually take long lunches for that.”

  “That’s true, but can you blame him? I’d be taking long lunches every day if I had a man as hot as Landon,” Nolan teased, waggling his eyebrows at our boss.

  Micah rolled his eyes. “Okay, that’s enough. Quit perving on my husband.”

  There was no heat to his words. Micah knew they were only teasing, and besides, he was always the first to tell people how lucky he was to get to share his life with Landon. They had met on one of Micah’s assignments when he was hired to guard Landon’s rock star brother, and they had ended up falling madly in love.

  Landon was an incredible man and if I wasn’t so happy for Micah, I’d probably be completely jealous of the relationship they had. But I was happy for both of them. Too many people went their whole lives without ever finding their soulmate. The fact that the two of them had gave the rest of us hope.

  “Fine, I’ll tell you guys because you’re going to find out soon enough anyway.” Micah drew in a deep breath and puffed his cheeks as he blew it out. “Around Christmas, last year, Landon and I decided we wanted to adopt. We’ve been meeting with an agency and we’ve been approved as good candidates. Now, we just have to wait for our baby to come along and choose us.”

  There was a round of cheers from those of us not there with him and those that were shook his hand and gave him slaps on the back. We were all thrilled for him and we made sure he knew it. Landon and Micah were going to be amazing parents and any child would be lucky to have them.

  We ended the meeting after that and I closed my laptop and fell back on the bed. I hated lying to Micah and the other guys, but there was something about Zach or Zane or whoever he was that called to me. I’d never experienced anything like it before, but there was definitely something happening between the two of us, and I could tell that Zach had felt it too. I just needed some more time to figure out exactly what it was before I told him the truth, and everything went to shit.

  I rubbed my hands over my face and then sat up. Looking at the time on my phone, I knew I’d have to hurry if I didn’t want to be late for work. There was no time for breakfast as I grabbed my wallet and keys and headed to the door. I wasn’t sure which one of us was more surprised though when I flung the door open just as Zach put his hand up to knock.

  “Shit!” I shouted, jumping back. Zach gasped, but then he started laughing.

  “Oh my God. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said.

  I laid my hand over my chest, trying to slow my racing heart. “That’s okay, I just wasn’t expecting you to be standing there,” I chuckled.

  “Well, I figured it was my turn to pick you up,” he said. I glanced over his shoulder at the older truck that sat idling in the driveway. There was a large tank in the bed of the truck, like farmers used to haul water for their crops.

  “Where’s your truck?” I asked, looking back at him. I took in the fullness of his bottom lip as he smiled and the way his T-shirt brought out the blue in his eyes and I suddenly found it hard to breathe.

  “Don’t need it today, not for where we’re going,” he said as he turned and started down the steps.

  “And where is that?” I asked, following along behind him.

  Zach opened the driver side door and turned to look at me. “We’re taking a road trip,” he exclaimed happily. His good mood and smile were infectious, and I felt my own lips lifting as I went around the front of the truck and climbed in. By the time we pulled onto the main road outside the lake, the weight of my earlier thoughts had disappeared and was replaced with excitement over getting to spend more time with Zach.

  “So, are we ditching work and going on a joyride, or do you have an actual destination in mind?” I teased. Zach laughed beside me. He rolled his window down and the smell of his shampoo hit my nose as the wind whipped through his silky tresses. I tried not to make it obvious as I took a deep breath.

  “We’re heading to Michigan. There’s a supplier there that Edith uses whenever she needs more fish. We have to stock the lake for this weekend,” Zach explained.

  “You mean the fish don’t replenish the supply, naturally?” I asked, wrinkling my brow.

  Zach laughed. “They do, but not fast enough and, of course, a lot of the baby fish get eaten up by the larger fish.”

  “That makes sense,” I said. “I never realized before I started working at the lake just how little I knew about fish and fishing.”

  Zach laughed. “Don’t feel bad; neither did I. Edith taught me everything I needed to know to work there.”

  “So, what did you do before you started working at the lake?” I asked. If I hadn’t already been watching him, I might have missed the subtle tensing of his shoulders or the clenching of his jaw and I wondered if he’d answer me or change the subject instead.

  “I moved around a lot, working odd jobs,” he answered stiffly.

/>   “Let me guess. Pole dancer? Stripper? Porn star?” I teased. I could tell that the subject had made him uncomfortable and I wanted to bring back his good mood from earlier. It worked, because he started to laugh.

  “Out of all the jobs in the world, what in the hell would make you think I’d done any of those?” he asked, shooting me an incredulous look.

  “Are you kidding me? With a body like that, you would’ve made a fortune.” I made a show of looking him up and down. He swallowed hard and turned his attention back to the road, but not before I saw a beautiful blush creep over his cheeks and the hint of a smile on his lips.

  “You’re the one with the hot body,” he said quietly.

  It shocked the hell out of me that he was actually flirting with me, but I was excited to see that new side of him. It let me know for sure that I hadn’t been reading the situation wrong. He was obviously as attracted to me as I was to him. He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, trying to judge my reaction.

  “I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s been looking,” I responded with a smirk.

  “You’re not,” he said as he pulled up to a stop sign. He turned to face me then and his eyes traveled slowly over my body, leaving my skin feeling like it was on fire. “Definitely not.”

  My heart hammered in my chest and my blood felt like lava as it pumped through my veins. He turned to face the road again and I let out the breath I’d been holding. I tried to be discreet as I adjusted my stiffening cock inside my jeans, but the low chuckle I heard coming from him told me that he’d caught the movement.

  We got on the interstate and drove about a couple of hours before we stopped for some food. We kept our conversation light, but there was an undercurrent of electricity between us that hadn’t been there before. As we got back on the interstate to continue on to Indiana, Zach spoke up.

  “Busboy, janitor, road crew, and one of those fancy car washes,” he said.