Hero

by Shani Greene-Dowdell

  Of course, the gray-haired, grizzled game attendant had to butt in. “I’ll give you two the first three games for free, little lady.” Right. Get me caught in trying to win only to leave with my wallet dry and no unicorn.

  “I don’t think so, but thank you.”

  “We’ll take them,” Tobin accepted for us.

  He wrapped my hands around the gun, giving whispered instructions that went right over my head with him so close. The heat he gave off warmed me down to my core. Freshly cleaned man smelling of soap and dark intensity clogged up my senses. I didn’t hear half the things he said as he pulled the trigger for me. A few minutes with no dollars spent later, the unicorn was being taken down and set on the countertop.

  Tobin spun me around in his arms. “You did it, baby.”

  Palming his chest, I giggled because damn if I wasn’t feeling carefree enough to do it. “You know dang well that was all you. I couldn’t concentrate with you behind me.” Or in front of me.

  “Is that right?” He rocked me gently, lulling me into complete submission with just his sweet personality. The body pressed against mine encouraged complete surrender from me. He had made me totally soft, vulnerable, but protected. That was a heady feeling this woman could get used to.

  His head dipped, taking my mouth. I fell into the magic that swelled around us as his kiss took me away from reality. That was until someone in the rear of Tobin gave us a round of applause and whistled from the other side of the track. Tobin broke away. His grin was brighter than any sun. I suspected I was glowing from the inside. Tiny campfires of lust were lit beneath my flesh. The attendant started yelling freebies at other people passing by. I figured that was our cue to get gone.

  “Tobin, I think we should keep it moving along.”

  “Me too. I saw a giant panda on the other side of the carnival I wanted before they shut down for the night.” The carnival closed at midnight.

  I couldn’t think of anything better than ushering a new day in with him. “If you’re willing to do all the work to get the panda, I’m game,” I said low and seductively. I prayed it came across seductive as I strolled off. A temptress, I was not.

  Tobin lunged for the unicorn almost as tall as I was. I had gotten a couple feet when I saw a hulking figure idling about twenty yards away at the last bend of the dirt track. I didn’t need binoculars to tell he was staring right at me and that nothing was right about him. Developing a moderate case of paranoia, I slowed my acceleration to nothing, refusing to get any closer. Parts of him were in the light and the dark at the edge of the grounds as if him skulking around wasn’t eerie enough.

  A humid breeze lifted shoulder-length tresses of hair out from his body. In the light, they shone white. That far away, I’d mistake that for blond any day. Fists were clenched at his sides, and he was definitely mean-mugging me. Even if I couldn’t make out the features of his face in the dimly-lit shadows, only one person I knew had that build, light-colored hair, and a foul attitude that rippled over the air currents. It smacked me directly in the stomach, activating my intuition. It clamored loudly with a warning. Don’t get any closer, Cherise. Chad had chased me down here too.

  Tobin

  I came up behind Cherise, who was frozen to one spot. I searched for what had her spooked. A man stood off in the distance too far to be recognizable but giving off bad intentions in spades all the same. She was aware of it and holding her ground.

  “Is that him?” I asked.

  She startled, whirling around on me with eyes big as dinner plates. “Yeah, it’s him,” she panted. “I can feel it.”

  She was frightened. I saw red. How dare that bastard come here to ruin her night.

  “Underwood,” I hissed for him, who sidled right up to my side. He had never been that far away the whole night. “Stay with Cherise.”

  Trusting him, I took off running as Cherise leaned over to get a good look at Andre. “Andre? What are you doing… Tobin! Where are you going? Dammit, Andre, let me go!”

  “Stay with me and let Tobin do his thing, Cherise.”

  “Andre, he’s going after Chad by himself again! Go with him!”

  “He’d kill me if I left you!”

  “Then, we’ll go!”

  “No, Cher… Dammit, don’t kick me again, woman!” he howled.

  Their squabble washed-out as I ran full tilt for the man hovering like a demon in the darkness waiting to strike. Seeing me coming, he smiled then twisted and ran off into the night. Had she been alone at any time, Chad would have taken her. Obviously, he didn’t know who would die to keep her out of his clutches, but he would if I caught him. He was physically fit, as well. When I reached the boundary where the light and dark met, a running diesel engine assaulted my ears.

  The unmistakable sound of an automobile door slamming ricocheted off the other cars. His truck was huge, so spotting it was no problem. I diverted to my right. His wheels begun spinning wildly in the dirt. Leaving his truck running in the middle of the designated driving path for the makeshift parking lot to execute a swift departure was ingenious.

  He floored it as I got two lines of cars away. A dust storm kicked up. Wanting no parts of that, I broke speed. His squealing tires overrode the commotion of an active carnival. He had made a clean, quick getaway this time. Chad was no slouch in the creeper department. I’d plan accordingly for that next time.

  Turning back, I double-timed it back to Cherise and Andre. He hadn’t left the duck shoot tent, guarding the side of it. She was nowhere to be found. Terrified for her safety, I ran faster.

  “Where the fuck is she, Andre?” streaming out of my mouth raised a lot of brows. Parents covered their small kids’ ears. Right, the f-bomb in a family-friendly place was a no-no.

  Andre sidestepped. Cherise came into glorious view. Head bowed, her back was pressed to the side of the tent. He had been guarding her. She was guarding the unicorn, more like strangling it. Reaching her, I took her shoulders in my hands.

  “It’s okay, Cherise. He’s gone. I’m here.”

  Andre wondered how the hell did Chad find us out loud. I had no clue, didn’t care at that moment. My woman was afraid. She lifted her head finally. There were angry tears in her eyes. No God, not those. I knew with absolute certainty that I had infuriated her more by running off than Chad had scared her by materializing like a ghost from the other side.

  I angled her chin up. “Baby, it’s okay. I’m fine.”

  “Take me home, Tobin,” expelled from her on a ‘brook no argument’ note. Shit. I had crossed her with the one thing she asked me not to do; run after Chad. Who knew how long it would take before she forgave me? Not willing to wait any amount of time, I wanted to beg for forgiveness right then and there, but we were attracting looky-loos. It wasn’t safe for her out in the open any longer, either. I’d have to continue the battle for her mercy at another locale.

  “Let’s go, Cherise. Andre, you should come with us to meet Malaysia. She needs to know all the players of the game that Chad is a master at. Everyone needs to be filled in as we learn how he operates.”

  Cherise padded between us. I had to endure pitying looks from Andre over her head. He was transmitting ‘sorry you got her and lost her all on the same day.’ No good at dating or girlfriends, I wasn’t surprised I had managed to lose her on the first date. As pissed as Cherise was, she allowed me to help her inside the truck. She sort of had no choice. The running board came up to her shins. I was sure she could have instituted another method to get in. She didn’t, which gave me high hopes for our immediate future.

  So tiny, so susceptible to danger, I thought about her as I climbed into the truck on my side. Then, a unicorn horn spanked me in the forehead. Not so sure my assessment of her was right, I leaned away and raised my arm to impede the next blow. “What the hell, Cherise!”

  The unicorn was pitched in the backseat. Cherise came flying out of hers at me next. I caught her by the waist. She straddled my lap, raining M and M-sized fists down on my
chest. Okay, maybe I hadn’t lost her. I sat quietly, letting her get it out of her system. When she was tired and breathing hard, I had to restrain my hands from tipping the sides of her mouth up, turning her scathing frown upside down. Then, she was on me again. Her mouth was a whirlwind, attacking mine with a vengeance. There was a lot of feistiness in this little package. By God, it would be mine.

  We fought for dominance of the kiss, tongues dueling, then retreating to invade again. On their own accord, my hands glided up the back of her shirt to get better acquainted with the skin there. I massaged the length of her spine. She mewled against my mouth and grinded on my lap, stroking the monster already awakened in my pants. Heat from between her thighs scorched mine as she gyrated at a jerky rhythm. All notions of Andre were thrown away until he drove up beside us. We were two sitting ducks if that had been Chad doubling back to get her. That alone gave me the strength to pull away. Cherise inclined her forehead to mine. We both worked to catch our breath. I was faster.

  “So, let me get this straight, Cherise. When I disobey, you’re going to whoop my ass, then kiss me, huh?”

  “Yes, dammit! You can’t scare the hell out of me like that.” Good thing she wasn’t any bigger or stronger; I’d have some serious problems. She slid into her seat, buckling up. “Tobin, I get sick with worry about you when you run off after him like that.”

  The last thing she should ever be was sick with worry because of something I had done. “Fine. I’ll make him come to me next time.”

  “I’m not loving that either. But, I’ll take that over you running off on your own to face him who has God knows what waiting for you and me.” Like a running truck, he could easily turn into a weapon. She’d made a valid point.

  I put our ride in gear. “You do know entering into an enemy’s territory is my specialty, right?”

  She tipped her chin down and arched an eyebrow at me. “You do know that you’re human, and experts get caught slipping sometimes too, right?”

  “Could you not counter all my statements with common sense, if you don’t mind?” I wisecracked on the way off the carnival’s grounds.

  She lightly cracked me across the chest again. “Quit playing. I need you alive. I just found you again.”

  “Again?” I pondered, more than eager to hear the story behind that but didn’t chase it.

  She scrutinized the scenery rolling by via the windshield. “Yes, again. I wondered about you all these years, analyzing our first meeting in my spare time. I kept coming up with not sensing or feeling you as a threat, unlike the vibe I got from Shane. For some reason, I felt like you were trying to protect me, well us. Malaysia always felt you both were not good people, but I couldn’t see it after spending so many nights thinking about that encounter and the way you made me feel.”

  That admission made my ears perk up with interest. “How did I make you feel?” I asked while monitoring the streets behind and before us.

  “Like you wouldn’t let anything happen to me. Which is exactly how I feel now. Even though danger is lurking all around me with Chad on the loose, having kidnapped and God knows what to Eva, I still feel like I’m untouchable when I’m with you. I know you were a nice guy doing bad things that night. Haven’t we all?”

  I could sense there was something more she was hiding. There always were more with emotions. “That’s all?”

  She shuffled in her seat. “I’m pretty sure I’ve been hoarding a secret crush on you that I didn’t even know about myself. It may have even made you a nicer guy than you really are to me.” She shrugged. “Oh well. When your true colors start to show, I’ll just whoop your ass with the unicorn again.”

  Relieved that was her ruling on the topic, I started to laugh and couldn’t stop. “As long as you kiss me afterwards, I’m game.”

  She scoffed, “A kiss will be determined by how bad you get.” She was no pushover.

  I had done the ultimate bad things—killed, maimed, destroyed civilizations all in the name of freedom. Deep down, she knew that too, but it wasn’t a dealbreaker with her. This woman sought out the best in people. This woman, I could learn to love.

  “If I get worse, you have permission to kick my ass and send me to bed without a kiss at night. That’ll hurt me more than anything.”

  Maybe, I should’ve kept the extreme way for her to torture me to myself. Sensitive information in the wrong hands costed lives. She’d take my soul. Once I’d kissed this woman, that was it for me. No other kisses or lack of them would do. Cherise bit her bottom lip in a sultry move that had me slyly readjusting the titanium-tough dick in my pants.

  “I like your kisses too, Tobin. Maybe a little too much than is healthy for us both.”

  Best news I’d heard in years. “I love your kisses, sweetheart, and there’s no such thing as too much when it comes to me and you.”

  “What about too fast?” she probed.

  “Nope, doesn’t exist with us. For fifteen years, I didn’t think I’d ever be good enough for you. If you’re giving me a chance to prove I’d give everything between us my all, then I’m taking every opportunity to do so. I promise not to let Chad touch you.”

  She pecked my lips, then smiled. “I know you won’t, and it’s good to know that you’ve learned that none of us are deserving of anything. We’re all flawed and bound to fuck up sometimes. Our all is all we have to give. You’re welcomed to mine.”

  “Mine was yours from the moment I saw you again.” I glanced at my bite-sized feisty woman. I reached onto the backseat and grabbed her unicorn. “Here. You were the reason I wanted this and why I went into the military. Your light shone through the dark and lit up my world. I couldn’t live in the dark anymore after that. I wanted to be deserving of someone like you.”

  Cherise’s mouth had fallen open somewhere in the middle of my confession. “Me?”

  “You,” I established. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you in this lifetime again.”

  “It’s my pleasure to be your motivation to better yourself. I like to believe that’s my purpose on this earth, and I’m more than happy that you found me again. Now, when are you gonna confess that you’ve been watching out for me all week?”

  My heart dropped. “You knew?”

  She cackled in that ‘all-knowing’ way and tapped me on the side of my head with the unicorn again. “I considered it the morning you met me outside my gate. You gave yourself away when you said you’d keep watching out for me on your own if I didn’t hire you as my hero.”

  “Your hero,” I tested that out on my tongue as we drove up to her gate. “I like it.”

  “Me too. You’d still better not scare me like that again. Tell me about your friend Andre.”

  On the way home, I told her about Andre and how I met him. We arrived at the gate. Because Cherise was on the wrong side, I looked to her for the access code.

  “It’s 9137. My landlord changes it once a month for security purposes.” Smart.

  I punched in the digits. The gate whined as it rolled backward. I drove through a little faster than normal so that Andre had enough time to enter too. Making sure no one else came in behind him, I instructed Cherise to wait for me to get to her side of the car, where I helped her out. Andre brought up the rear as we approached the front door that swung inward for Malaysia in a hooded dress. The was more hood on her head than dress on her body. It was missing some vital sections like the sides and part of the front. Andre was going to have a field day with that.

  Obstructing the doorway with her slim presence, the light from inside the condo slunk around her to illuminate the porch. If she didn’t have something snarky to say, I’d eat my boots. She folded her arms across the material that drooped below her arms. “Oh, great. There’s two of you jokers now. Cherise, you could’ve called and warned me we were having a whole lot of company tonight. I’m barely dressed.” Malaysia had come through with the snark with flying colors. Despite the attitude that was meant more for Andre and me, I didn’t have to worry about
eating my boots tonight.

  Andre lost his cool points tripping up as he swerved around us to surge up onto the porch first. A barely-dressed woman was his weakness. “Don’t get uncomfortable on my account, Malaysia. I’m Andre, and I’m here because we had some trouble at the carnival with Chad Lowell.”

  She raked over him with narrowed-eyed regard, doing the same to Cherise, then back to Andre. “I guess you better come on in and get comfortable then. Cherise, there’s something in the fridge for everybody to drink, I’m sure. I need to go change.” She cat-walked away.

  Basically rejected, Andre had a hard time containing his horror as he went in after her. That was the first time his smoothness after a rarely-needed fast recovery didn’t do him a bit of good.

  Cherise cupped her mouth with one hand to deaden her giggles behind his back. “She’s more pissed at me for not calling ahead to tell her to stop lounging in her bedwear before we showed up, Andre. I promise she’s not as scary as she seems.”

  “Why don’t I believe you?” he protested. “And for the record, Tobin, your doctor has a mean mule kick. I’d watch that shit if I were you.”

  Cherise

  Malaysia’s long, sensual form ascended the stairs and had me sort of jealous. I would never have that type of body, I was all short curves. Weirdly, she preferred my short curves. Tobin wasn’t paying her the least bit of attention. Gently propelling me into the house slightly ahead of him, his hands and eyes roaming over me and the tops of my plump ass insinuated he was just fine with my body type. I invited them to the sofa then went off to the kitchen to exhume beverages from the fridge.

  As I carried bottles of foreign beer and glasses of champagne in the living area, Malaysia made her way back down the stairs. The guys’ heads went in two different directions, Andre towards Malaysia, who didn’t return the favor. Tobin damned near liquefied me with his heated gaze. It was a blessing to make it to the coffee table with the drinks without spilling a drop. Passing the beer to the men, I sat beside Tobin with my champagne.