by Vonnie Davis
His simple, honest admission brought tears to Cassie’s eyes. Quinn cupped her face in his large hands and gently kissed each one away. With one hand, she lifted her hair from her neck. She extended the other one that held the necklace. Understanding her silent request, he stepped closer and, with their gazes locked on each other, he fastened the clasp and cuddled a long kiss where the clasp met her spine. Something in his tender kiss opened the door to her heart and allowed hope to skip right on in. He admired her. He respected her. He cared.
“I love you, angel. You might be my sex toy, but, hell, I’ll never think of you as an object. I don’t think love’s supposed to work that way.”
“I love you, too, and I love that you’re my sex object.” She gave him a saucy wink.
Sober-faced Dr. Paxwell seemed to fight a smile so hard a blush crept across her cheeks. “Looks like you two have reached an amicable agreement.”
“How many times a day can I call her?” Quinn sounded hopeful when he fired the question at the doctor.
“None. Zero contact.” The therapist glanced at both of them. “That applies to texts too.”
Quinn aimed his dimpled smile at no-nonsense Dr. Paxwell. “I’m guessing Skype is out of the question.”
“As are smoke signals, Mr. Gallagher.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Well?” Wolf was waiting on Quinn before he made it inside the waiting area. Talk about a dark squall ready to break. The air in that wing of the hospital fairly crackled with the static electricity of brooding storm Dan “Wolf” Wolford.
“Cassie’s agreed to spend three days here for observation. We’re not seeing each other for a month, but during that time we’ll both be meeting with Dr. Paxwell for individual counseling. Cassie, once a week. I’ll go twice. Seems I come with more baggage than she does.”
Wolf’s head swiveled to the curtained area. “But she agreed to stay?” His narrow-eyed gaze settled on Quinn. “How did you manage that, because believe me, the doc and I were having zero luck in that department.”
“I got her to agree on the one condition that means the most to her. She wants someone from the family to stay with her all the time. Preferably you, but she understands you have to report to the station too.”
The self-proclaimed family patriarch seemed to appreciate Quinn’s efforts. “Well, okay, then. Looks like you might get to live. At least until I hear your side of the story.”
“Can we go outside for a walk? I’d like to talk to you in private. I’m dealing with some things I could use your help with.”
Wolf stared at him for a few beats, his dark eyes assessing. “Becca, can you go sit with Cassie while Quinn and I have a private chat?”
The redhead hurried over, her eyes wary. “Sure. Will you two need a referee?”
“No, but I’d like Jace to come along too, if that’s all right with you, Wolf.” He might as well get both brothers out of the way at once. During his time in Clearwater, they’d befriended him and he’d rewarded their kindness with half-truths. Now there was also the element of Cassie’s safety. It would serve him right if they both beat him into low-grade hamburger.
After grabbing a cup of coffee-to-go at an all-night café across from the hospital, they meandered through the large parking lot while Quinn shared his long story, beginning with growing up with a strict, demanding father. During the verbal unfolding process, Wolf asked questions, while Jace mostly added an emotional “Jesus” to the telling of Quinn’s tale.
He eventually led Wolf and Jace in the direction of Milt’s car and leaned against it to finish.
“So, because you dipped your pen in company ink, your team lost their lives while your pecker had a good time.” He should have figured Wolf, the ex-SEAL, would give him the most grief.
“That about sums it up. Although, technically, she wasn’t our company. She was local support.”
Wolf tilted his head to the side for a second or two. “So this is what’s been eating at you?”
“Yeah.” He gulped the rest of his coffee and crunched the insulated cup in his hand.
“But to shoot the woman you were screwing between the eyes, Quinn.” Jace leaned in. “Damn, that’s cold.”
“Not as cold as having my men tortured and killed.” He went on to explain resigning from his government job, being ostracized from his family and coming here to start a new life.
“Your old man really disowned you? Man, when Wendy Anne has this baby, I can’t imagine turning my back on him or her for any reason.” Jace shook his head.
“You know, I always hoped Buck Gallagher wasn’t my real father.” Quinn rubbed a hand over his forehead to help ease the headache hammering there. “Over the years, I heard snippets of arguments. Not much. Just enough to make me wonder. There was a man my mother was good friends with and my dad hated. His first name was Quinn, too, and I adored spending time with him.”
“Where is he now?” Wolf wanted to know.
“Someone shot him outside a jazz club in New Orleans. My mother nearly had a nervous breakdown over it.”
“Do you still have contact with your mother?” Jace drank more of his coffee.
“I call her every Wednesday while Buck’s at work, usually between eight and eleven in the morning. She knows fires can happen at any time and accepts the irregularity of my calls.”
“You refer to your dad as Buck?” Wolf leaned a shoulder against Milt’s car beside Quinn and waited for his answer.
“He told me never to call him dad or father ever again. That only leaves his nickname or his first name, which happens to be my middle name. My grandpa’s name too.” He took a steadying breath. “I’ll be damned if he’s getting that.”
The three stood silent for a minute, and Quinn took that time to compose himself. “There’s more. And it concerns Cassie.” Both of her brothers angled toward him.
“The same morning I turned in my notice at the station, I emailed some old co-workers at the State Department and the DEA, putting out feelers for job openings. In less than three hours, I got this text.” He tugged his cell from his pocket and thumbed through until he found the text that threatened Cassie, holding it out so both men could read it.
“Jesus H. Christ!” Wolf went fucking ballistic and Jace wasn’t too far behind on the crazy brother track.
“Yeah, my freakin’ feelings exactly. Some bastard’s been watching me for the last three years. Why? I haven’t a clue. Obviously, whoever’s been observing my comings and goings—or hired some feckless asshole to spy on me—was the mole within one of my old departments.”
Wolf snapped his own cell from his belt and thumbed a number. “Arlo, sorry to wake you, but I’ve got an emergency situation. My youngest sister’s life has been threatened. Is it possible to trace a text? A threatening text.” Wolf paced while the man on the other end of the call talked. “Well, can we check it out anyhow? Just in case? I’ll drop the cell off at your office shortly after eight tomorrow morning. Thanks, man.” He disconnected the call and clipped his phone to its holder again. “Arlo’s a detective in the police department. If the person sending the text used a burner—a cheap phone used once and then tossed—his team won’t be able to trace it, but it’s still worth a try.”
Quinn gave Wolf his cell. “Might as well hand it over. Doctor Get-in-your-head has prohibited Cassie and me from seeing each other for a month. Or calling, or texting. Can’t skype. Basically, we’re cut off from each other.” Yeah, like that’ll keep me from sneaking in to see her. And God help the poor son of a bitch who tries to stop me.
Jace stepped closer and shoulder-bumped him. “A smart man could find his way around all that.”
Even in the dim parking lot security lighting, Quinn could detect Wolf rolling his eyes. “Here we go. The expert on women is about to impart some of his sexual wisdom.”
“Hey, make fun all you want, but the day you can make your woman climax on command, then you’ll have the right to scoff at me.”
Wolf d
id scoff. “Hell, squirt, where would you learn shit like that?”
“Not from those cheap-ass BDSM movies you guys like to watch at the station, that’s for damn sure.” Jace effectively cut off any more questions from his brother by pivoting toward Quinn. “You can still send Cassie flowers, write her notes, poetry, get her little gifts that hold sentimental value. She’s not one for showy stuff. You know that. She responds to presents from a person’s heart.” He tapped Quinn’s shoulder, “Hell send her a calendar and a fancy pen. Tell her to circle a date.” He chuckled and shook his head. “It’ll drive her freaking nuts until she finds out what that means. You know, for a weekend get-away or something special. Ya gotta learn it’s the small things in a relationship that keep a man and a woman close.”
“Got ya. But I have to admit, her safety is uppermost on my mind right now. I’ll send her gifts so she knows I’m thinking about her, but I have to know she’s safe. That knowing me won’t bring her harm.”
“The big question remains.” Wolf shook his finger as he talked. “What or who do you know that makes you a liability? Why waste government resources to put you under surveillance? I’m thinking this is a private endeavor. A classic CYA mode, although an expensive one. Who would have the funds to hire people to watch you day and night?”
“And what lowlife would use my woman’s safety to force me to do what they want. The only thing I want to do right now is rip that bastard apart, inch by rotten inch.”
“I feel you,” Wolf said. “Someone’s hiding something and it has to be something big, or why bother? Ever had your apartment swept for bugs or hidden cameras?”
“Bugs?” Chills beat a fast path up and down Quinn’s spine.
Wolf stopped in front of him and pinned him with a glare. “You don’t have any military experience, do you?”
“No. Which made me a bit of an oddity at the State Department. I mean, not all the men and women have a military background, but most do. I went there straight out of college. I’ve got a fourth degree black belt and training in fencing and sharpshooting, but they don’t count for much in that world.”
“So why did they put you in charge of an important mission like that? Usually one department sends a top-notch agent on temporary duty within another department. They like one of their top dawgs pissin’ in someone else’s yard. Just for the showing-off effect.”
“Sounds like they wanted our boy here to fail.” Jace clasped Quinn’s shoulder.
Wolf folded his arms. “But you weren’t failing, were you? Your team was digging up some important shit. Finding some good, solid intel. Did you turn over all your records to your superiors once you got back to the States?”
“Except for my zip drive. That I kept. It’s in my lockbox at the bank.”
“Bingo!” Wolf chuckled. “Always hold onto that special ace and keep it well hidden. First thing, we need Ryder to sweep your place for bugs and cameras. He’s top-notch at that shit and he can be trusted. Have you talked to anyone about the hidden zip drive?”
“No one. Unless I rambled about it when I was having a flashback. I do some weird shit then.” One time he’d trashed his apartment. Another, he’d stood in the shower until he’d used all the hot water and it had turned icy cold. Then there was the time he came into awareness, crouched in the corner of his closet, naked and grasping one of his water skis like a spear.
“Those things are a bitch, but Dr. Paxwell will get you through it. Teach you ways to manage them. She’s the best, in my opinion. Now, back to this damn text.”
“I sent a message to everyone I’d emailed originally and told them I’d decided against moving back to the land of cold and snow. That I’d applied at some other fire departments in Florida. Thanked them for whatever they’d done in trying to find me a job in the Truman Building or at the Pentagon. Then, in case any of them checked, I applied at six companies here in Florida, northern Gulfside and Oceanside, and also a few cities in Georgia, along the ocean.”
Wolf nodded. “Good. That’s good. You’re showing them you want to be near the water in year-round warm weather. That should go a long way toward keeping Cassie safe. I gotta ask, man. Those two bullet scars you’ve got. The one in your back under the tat and the one in your thigh. When did you get those?”
“That night in Chile, when everything went to hell.”
“And you still went looking for Renata?”
Quinn nodded. “By then I had a strong mother-effing inkling. I didn’t want to believe it, but I had to know. I have to admit she looked mighty surprised when I showed up at her place, bleeding and hobbling.”
“She figured you were already dead.” Wolf chuckled. “I do like a man stubborn enough to cheat death. Makes us stronger than the average motherfucker. I’m taking personal time tomorrow to stay with Cassie. I’d rather none of the women find out about the threatening text.”
“I agree,” Jace chimed in. “I’ll try to behave normally. I don’t want Wendy Anne worrying any more than she has already tonight.”
“Any chance you can surprise her with a short trip? Go away for a couple of days and shop for the baby? Might help her relax. You know how easily she picks up on everyone’s vibes. We don’t want another miscarriage.”
Jace stopped and glared at his brother. “You don’t trust me, do you? You want me out of town so I don’t let it slip to Cassie about the text.”
“You know you’ve always been the talkative one in the family, you dumb shit.”
Quinn grabbed the opportunity, now that Wolf was more in a teasing mood. “I’d like to talk to Noah and you about rescinding my resignation. There’s no way I can leave Cassie now.”
Wolf crossed his thick arms. “Why? Do you think you’re the only one who can keep her safe?”
“Because he’s in love with her. Has been for a long time. You know how Cassie feels about him.” Jace ran a hand over the multiple layers of duct tape on the top of the Cutlass Supreme. “I wonder whose piece of junk this heap is?”
“It’s Milt’s and it’s not worth the powder and keg it would take to blow it up. When I found out Cassie was hurt, I shook too bad to drive. He offered to bring me. Hell, I’d have been better off jogging here than riding with that old coot.”
Quinn focused his attention on Wolf again. “I know you think I’m not good enough for your sister, and you’re probably damn right, but I love her more than I’ve ever loved anyone in my entire life. I plan on asking her to marry me, unless you beat me to a pulp first.”
Jace elbowed his older brother. “Well, there is that wedding dress she’s got on layaway.”
Wolf pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. “And the damn veil. Let’s not forget the veil. How many times have I heard every stupid detail of that dress and veil? I’ve got April’s wedding in April. Becca and I are getting hitched in May. I’m giving you ’til June to find out who’s threatening my baby sister or there’s no wedding. Am I clear? Now are we through with this male bonding shit?”
Jace rocked back on his heels. “Well, we didn’t sing ‘Kum-Ba-Ya’ yet.”
Wolf cuffed him on the back of the head. “Smart-ass.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Cassie and Dr. Paxwell were just beginning their session when a nurse’s aide carried in a huge arrangement of red roses and calla lilies. Wolf stood from his sentinel position on a padded chair by the window, took the flowers from the young woman and, if Cassie didn’t know better, she’d have sworn he removed the gift card envelope from the plastic holder. Yet a card remained when he set the bouquet on the stand by her bed.
Her gaze bounced from the card to her brother and he winked. She reached for the printed “sent with love” card that merely had the initial “Q” scrawled on it. A smile spread and her heart rate kicked up. The roses and calla lilies were from Quinn.
Dr. Paxwell’s cell chimed and, while she walked toward the window to talk, Wolf slipped the envelope he’d purloined from the arrangement, under Cassie’
s pillow. He leaned over and kissed her forehead before he whispered in her ear, “Something for you to read later. I’m going to the cafeteria for a soda and something to eat. Want me to bring you back anything?”
“No, I’m good. Well, maybe a candy bar. After what the good doctor will put me through, I’m sure I’ll need some chocolate.” She’d also be better once she was alone so she could read the mystery note.
Wolf winked and sauntered out of her private room. Now what was he up to? How did he know there would be an extra card with her flowers? She reached to run a fingertip over the velvety softness of the rose petals. She might not be able to see Quinn, but she would certainly enjoy the blooms he’d sent her.
Dr. Paxwell, in her typical low-key fashion, was able to get Cassie to talk about all the things that preyed on her mind. Even Cassie was surprised when she listed them: the fire at her recently opened hair boutique and the stress of scheduling all the work to reopen her business as soon as possible, living with two older friends who, at times, acted more immature than she did, listening to both April and Becca plan their weddings and wondering if she’d ever have one herself, and the thought of Quinn’s leaving Clearwater. No wonder she teetered on the edge of stress, or so Dr. Paxwell insisted.
Their long discussion drained Cassie’s emotions so badly she nearly fell asleep as soon as the door to her room whispered shut after the doctor left for her next appointment. Then her hand slipped under her pillow and paper crinkled.