Blind Trust: A Military Romantic Suspense (Men of Steele Book 6)

by Gwen Hernandez

  “Besides,” he said, studying her face, “looks aren’t everything.”

  Her heart thumped and she broke eye contact. Only someone who’d won the genetic lottery would honestly believe that looks didn’t impact every aspect of life. She hadn’t been above using her own in the past, but she also understood her limitations. “So about that shopping trip…”

  He sobered. “I don’t like it.”

  “What’s our other option? Sneak in like thieves after dark?”

  “We can’t wait that long,” he said with a frown. “JJ can’t afford for us to talk, so I foresee an outsized response from the sheriff’s department.”

  Fear buffeted her in a relentless tide. “Then, it’s better to act now before word really spreads.” While there was a chance Megan was still at the compound. And alive. But if they moved without taking precautions, Lindsey might never get to her friend at all.

  She fought the urge to stomp her foot or kick something.

  Todd scratched his forehead beneath the black knit cap. “I could probably use a knife to shave my beard, and keep wearing the beanie to cover my hair.”

  Ouch. No way would a knife blade be sharp enough. “I have a better idea.”

  Lindsey’s eyes sparkled with intelligence, her face coming alive with whatever idea she had for Todd’s hair. How had every man she’d ever met not fallen all over himself to spend time with her?

  “Should I be worried?” he asked. What if she wanted to shave his head too? It had worked as a disguise for his boss’s friend, Mick, a few years back, but Todd’s head was weirdly shaped. Something he’d learned the hard way in fifth grade.

  “Coffee,” she said.

  “I don’t follow.”

  “We’re going to dye everything brown. That way you won’t have to hack off your hair or your beard.”

  “That works?” Coffee?

  “It should. I had a friend in high school who was into DIY, all-natural cosmetics. Made her own eyeliner and everything. Dark roast coffee worked on her hair, though she was more blond.” A smile ghosted across Lindsey’s sweet lips. “Maybe save the knife as a last resort.”

  “And you thought you had nothing to offer.”

  She shrugged. “Unfortunately, I can’t make myself shorter.”

  “Too bad we don’t have a prayer in hell of making you look like a guy. That’d really throw people off the trail once my red hair’s gone.”

  Her lips rolled in. “You don’t think with enough padding and some baggie clothes, maybe a hat—”

  “Not a chance.” Despite her stature, given her delicate facial features and womanly curves, the way she walked, no one in their right mind would mistake her for a man. Or even a boy.

  “Okay.” She rested her hands on the shapely hips he’d spent half the night wanting to caress. “I’ll think of something else. Maybe dealing with your hair is enough.”

  Doubtful. Her driver’s license photo was a pretty good match.

  Setting that issue aside for the moment, they brewed several cups of coffee with boiled stream water, and then Lindsey mixed the grounds with sunscreen, her makeshift stand-in for conditioner. While the coffee cooled, they looked over the satellite map of the area Todd had brought for his trip, complete with topographical overlay to show elevation.

  “Here’s about where we first met,” he said, pointing to the area on the trail where she’d nearly gone off the mountain. A shudder ran through him at the memory.

  Every part of him wanted to stash her somewhere safe, but he had no idea where that would be. Unfortunately, she was probably better off with him, out looking for her friend, than sitting in an anonymous hotel somewhere, waiting for the police to knock on the door.

  He couldn’t risk it.

  Scary how much she mattered to him already. The last decade of his life had been dedicated to saving and protecting people, but this was different somehow. Lindsey was different.

  He clicked with her. He’d felt it instantly. It wasn’t just her looks, though she was attractive as hell. So far, he liked the whole package. Her strength, her loyalty, her integrity, her sense of humor. The more he got to know her, the more beautiful she got.

  Maybe he finally understood what had turned most of the other guys at Steele into dedicated family men.

  Jesus, what was he thinking? He’d literally met Lindsey the day before and now he was ready to…what? Marry her? Have kids? Hardly. He didn’t believe in love at first sight, or insta-love, or whatever it was called. But, damn, he did want to explore the possibilities.

  Comically bad timing. Assuming they didn’t end up in jail or worse, they lived and worked on opposite sides of the country. And he had a killer to track down. That was his core mission until Pete was behind bars. Or dead.

  Lindsey’s shoulder brushed his as she leaned in for a look at the map. He held still, maintaining contact, hardly daring to breathe.

  “And this is Mullanburg?” she asked.

  “Uh-huh.” Todd scoured the area around the small town. He pointed to the red circle he’d made around a small cluster of buildings the day before. “And here’s the compound.”

  The temptation to tell her everything needled him like an invisible sliver, but he couldn’t afford to lose her trust right now, and revealing that he’d misled her about his true purpose in Montana—and how Pete might be tied up with the very same people who had her friend—might cause Lindsey to rethink their alliance.

  And then he wouldn’t be able to protect her.

  Besides, if Pete wasn’t linked to JJ, or wasn’t at the compound with Megan, Todd would’ve come clean for nothing. No need to ratchet up Lindsey’s stress levels any higher.

  She rose to check the coffee. “It’s cool enough. You ready?”

  A few minutes later, he lay shirtless on his back in the shade, head hanging over the edge of a rock while Lindsey kneeled at his side, her beautiful face set in concentration. His stomach wouldn’t stop doing flips, so he focused as much as possible on the woods behind her, alert for threats.

  After applying sunscreen around his hairline to prevent staining, she slowly poured the coffee over his head, cupping her hand above his brows to keep the liquid from splashing his face. The real torture started as she moved behind him to massage in the coffee paste. Her fingers were like magic, every stroke lighting his body on fire. Goosebumps chased over his skin and he clenched his fists at his sides to keep from moaning aloud.

  “You cold?” she asked, stopping her heavenly ministrations.

  She leaned over him with concern, little tendrils of her hair falling around her face. Their gazes met and her lush lips parted.

  He reached up with both hands, slipping the errant strands of hair behind her ears for her.

  Her breath hitched and her cheeks flushed. “Thank you.”

  Instead of withdrawing, his hands seemed to move of their own volition, sliding slowly across her soft cheeks and around to massage the tender skin at the nape of her neck. She came with the gentlest of tugs, her lips pressing hungrily to his, her tongue slipping inside to tease him until he groaned.

  Kissing upside down was new to him, but it was already his new favorite angle. The way their tongues aligned, her chin nuzzling his nose, the overall novelty fired him up.

  When she resumed caressing his scalp, he turned hard as the granite beneath him. Jesus. He couldn’t get enough. Didn’t want to stop. Not ever.

  One of her hands trailed through his beard and curved around his chin.

  He laughed and spoke against her lips. “Trying to multitask?”

  She pulled back with a sad smile. “I wish we had time.”

  He closed his eyes on a frustrated sigh as their reality splashed over him like cold water. “Sorry. I’m starting to lose my head around you.”

  Her cheeks flushed and her expression shuttered. “Me too, obviously. But Megan has to be my top priority right now.”

  “No, I understand.” Was it better or worse that his attraction was rec
iprocated? “I’ll be good.”

  “I know.”

  She did?

  At least one of them believed in him.

  She cleared her throat and scooted back a few inches. “Normally, we’d wrap your hair in plastic to keep it from dripping, but hopefully it’ll work anyway. The sunscreen’s thicker than conditioner.” She walked on her knees until she faced him. “You can scoot down to rest your head and I’ll work on your beard.”

  She must have seen something on his face as he found a more comfortable position, because she said, “If that’s okay.”

  “Sweetheart, you can touch me any time.”

  Pink washed over her cheeks again, and the devil in him wanted to keep making it happen. “Stop it,” she said without heat.

  “Sorry.” He gave her a contrite look and laced his fingers over his stomach to keep them in check.

  She nodded and started rubbing the brown mixture into his facial hair, keeping her eyes firmly on her task.

  He returned his gaze to the trees over her right shoulder and tried to pretend it was his regular barber back home rubbing oddly scented shaving cream into his beard instead of the woman who brought every nerve in his body to attention.

  Tough sell.

  Once she finished applying the goop to his eyebrows and beard, he set the timer on his watch for an hour. “Now we need to figure out your transformation.”

  “I don’t have any way to bleach my hair, and I’m not sure cutting it would help much if it’s the same color. Can I borrow your cap and tuck it all inside?”

  “Go for it.” Why did he like seeing her in his clothes so much?

  She created a sort of bun at the back of her head and pulled the beanie over her hair, even covering her ears. The look did nothing to hide her magnificent cheekbones or pert nose, but it did slightly change the shape of her face and make her long dark hair less obvious.

  “I suppose if you’re with me, and I’m not a redhead, it might be enough.”

  It had to be.

  CHAPTER SIX

  AN HOUR LATER, Lindsey and Todd had a plan. They hadn’t physically moved any closer to Megan, but it felt good to be doing something to aid that goal.

  Kneeling in the dirt next to the flat boulder where Todd lay, Lindsey rinsed his hair with boiled-and-cooled stream water, running her fingers through the short, wet strands. His reaction to her touch, both earlier and now, made her want to slide her hands lower.

  If she ever got him alone in a shower…

  Not happening.

  She sighed. Once as much of the sunscreen mixture had been washed out as possible, she let him clean up his own face.

  “How do I look?” he said, rising to his knees to rub a towel over his head.

  Like a god.

  But no longer a red-haired god. The transformation was actually pretty amazing, especially now that his brows were dark enough to frame his blue, blue eyes. His lashes were still pale, but more blond than red. It was unlikely anyone would notice unless they got within a couple feet, and even then only if they were suspicious.

  “Different.” She tapped her finger on her lips, drawing his gaze. Her stomach dipped. The taste of his mouth still lingered on her own. Who knew upside-down kisses were so freaking hot? Well, besides Mary Jane and her webbed superhero. Obvs.

  Lindsey cleared her throat and dropped her hand. “Like a man with brown hair and a little too much hair gel.” Tilting her head, she said, “Maybe dark auburn hair, but definitely not a redhead.”

  “Perfect. Thanks to you. And your friend.” He covered all those distracting muscles with a fresh blue shirt and she could finally take a full breath again. “As if I needed another reason to love coffee.” Handing her a long-sleeved technical tee the color of the surrounding pines, he said, “Let’s stash the fleece for now. Just in case anyone recognized us earlier and reported what we were wearing.”

  She sucked in a whole lungful of air and released it in a slow stream. They were about to walk into Pinetop, one of the towns where law enforcement was sure to have gotten the word out about the dangerous fugitives. But if they were going to head back into the mountains, they needed supplies.

  And Todd wanted to talk to his boss.

  “In case things go south, I need someone to know what really happened,” Todd had said with an apologetic frown. “Plus, he can find someone to help us negotiate our surrender, get Valerie—Steele’s hacker genius—to start digging on JJ, and maybe even send a few guys to help us.”

  How wonderful to have a whole team behind him.

  Lindsey had a group that she trusted implicitly—her parents, Megan, her volleyball teammates—but they wouldn’t be much use in this situation. As far as she knew, none of them could hack a computer system, and the only lawyer in the bunch practiced entertainment law.

  Thank God for Todd and his connections.

  All packed up, they took a long route to town, sticking close to the trees, but ultimately paralleling the highway. Ranches dotted the valley, surrounded by low mountains on all sides.

  Finally, close to five o’clock, they approached the core of Pinetop, basically a collection of a dozen rustic wooden or corrugated metal buildings centered around the highway crossroads.

  “Ninety percent of blending in is looking like you belong,” Todd said as they crunched over a gravel lot toward a building that housed a BBQ joint, a bakery, an outdoor outfitter, and a general store. No sign of any sheriff’s deputies. “We’re tourists, oblivious to the news, with nothing to hide.”

  “We need new names.”

  “Sure. I’ll be Igor Stansfield.”

  She flashed him a look.

  “What. Too much?”

  She rolled her eyes.

  “Sven Johannsen.” He put his hands on his hips. “I’m feeling very Sven-like with my new hair.”

  “I was thinking John or Kent.”

  “Mike it is. Mike Baker.”

  She allowed herself a smile. “Nice to meet you, Mike Baker. I’m Kayla Serrano.”

  “Because you’re hot like a pepper?”

  She groaned in mock agony. “No, she was one of my teammates in high school.” Back when life had been simple.

  “Sounds like a cartoon character. Or a stripper.”

  “Don’t be so judgmental.” She resisted the urge to give him a playful push. The less she touched him the better.

  “Fine, Kayla it is,” he said oddly, as if tasting the name and finding it lacking.

  She followed him up rough-hewn steps and onto the wooden porch of Pinetop Sundries and Supplies. The store’s name seemed redundant, but what did she know? Two older men wearing cowboy hats and worn leather boots sat on a bench, tracking their progress.

  She gave them what she hoped was a friendly smile and followed Todd through the door. Nothing to see here.

  A bell dinged as they crossed the threshold and the teenaged girl behind the register flipped her long blond hair over her shoulder and smiled at Todd. “Hi, there. Help you find anything?”

  The girl appeared a little dazed when he returned the smile and said, “Hi. We’re good for now, but I’ll let you know.”

  Lindsey could relate. She felt a little dazzled every time he looked at her too.

  They grabbed sandwiches from the deli, sodas from the cold case, and enough packaged food for the next couple of days. Lindsey also found a cheap pair of sunglasses, some warmer clothes, and a small daypack to hold them.

  She grabbed a new baseball cap for Todd with a bear embroidered on the front to replace the gray one he’d lost the day before.

  When they’d collected everything, he leaned against the counter, gave the girl full eye contact and smiled. “My phone isn’t getting good service around here,” he said. “Do you know if any of the pay-as-you-go phones work better?”

  “Sure,” she said, all perky and ever-so-helpful, her face flushed pink as she ran through the options with her commentary on which phones had the best range. “You heading to Yellowstone?
” she asked while ringing up their purchases.

  “Working our way down there. We’re staying in Mullanburg tonight and meeting up with friends in Gardiner tomorrow.” The words flowed out of him without a hitch.

  Lindsey almost believed him and she knew their plan.

  “Well, watch out for snow,” the girl said.

  “Isn’t it a bit early for that this far south?” he asked.

  She nodded and stuffed their items into shopping bags. “Yeah. Weatherman said we might get a freak storm though.”

  Shit.

  “Thanks for the warning.” He gave Lindsey a troubled glance.

  Ten minutes later, they were eating sandwiches at a picnic table overlooking the parking lot while Todd set up his phone.

  “I had no idea you were such a good liar,” Lindsey said, intending the words to come out more playfully than they did.

  His brow furrowed. “I can play a role when necessary. Like when I’m trying to infiltrate a company. That usually requires a little social engineering.”

  She nodded and looked down at her plate as she shoved several fries into her mouth. Why was this bothering her?

  Because he might be playing a role with you.

  But to what end? And why should she care?

  “Lindsey.” He put his hand on hers and waited until she looked up to see her own reflection in his sunglasses. “I’ve meant every word I said to you. I like you more than seems reasonable given the amount of time we’ve known each other.”

  Heat filled her cheeks and any response she might have mustered caught in her throat. Could he tell she felt exactly the same way?

  “The only thing I’m pretending when I kiss you is that this attraction between us could actually turn into something more.”

  Lindsey tugged her hand out of Todd’s grasp and gave him an indignant look. “Am I supposed to be flattered or insulted?”

  “Shit.” The minute the words left his mouth, he’d known they were the wrong thing to say. Honest, but wrong. “That—”

  “Forget about it.” She re-wrapped her half-eaten sandwich and stuffed it into her backpack before extricating herself from the picnic table. “The only reason I’m here is Megan. She’s my number one priority. Anything else is a distraction.”