Danger Signs (Delta Force Echo: An Iniquus Action Adventure Romance Book 1)

by Fiona Quinn

  Princess Beatrice was supposed to have stayed with her for a week. That was two months ago. Once William was over in the Middle East, he got involved in his business and didn’t want to come home to the States.

  Since London got pregnant with Archie, she’d changed. She sort of collapsed into the world-of-William. Everything he wanted, he got. And William wanted London with him. So Princess Beatrice had remained with Kira.

  That had been all right. Kira preferred big, muscular dogs. And wasn’t a huge fan of the yipping and the destruction, but soon enough, the two of them had fallen into a routine that worked. Part of that was that Beatrice accompanied Kira on her daily trip to the coffee shop.

  Three o’clock was when Kira’s energy flagged. In the winter, a cup of hot coffee, in the summer a glass of iced chai at the cute little woman-owned coffee shop worked out perfectly as a way to get her blood flowing, free her thoughts, and get her through her afternoon work until she called it done around dinner.

  Once Bea came on the scene, Kira sat outside at one of the café tables. She followed her drink with a walk up to the park, two blocks away. At that time of day, there were few, if any, others in the fenced area for dogs to play off lead. Kira could be sure that Bea got the exercise she needed.

  Beatrice scampered down the front steps with her lead clipped into place, pulling at Kira to come along.

  “Okay, Princess Impatience, wait for a second. I need to lock up.” Keys, ball, wallet, and phone were eyed and verified in her bag, and Kira set off.

  It was a beautiful day. The humidity was a rare low, and the temperatures were still cooler from last night’s rain shower.

  Kira let Beatrice set the pace as they headed down the street and toward “their” table. Before she sat down, Kira stopped to look through the window until the barista spotted her and raised her hand in salute.

  Kira tied Bea’s lead to the chair arm then reached up to adjust the umbrella.

  The barista leaned out of the door. “Usual?”

  “Thank you,” Kira said as she took her seat. Typically, she had a paperback in her bag, but today she’d left it behind in Beatrice’s insistence to get going. Kira decided to play a game instead. She’d watch people, pretending they were fictional characters and make up a genre and backstory for them.

  A worried-looking man was rushing out of the pharmacy next door. Sweet Romance: He became a dad, scurrying home with the medicine he hoped would keep his son from the emergency room but would ultimately fail to help. Rushed to the hospital, this widower with his young son would run serendipitously into the dad’s college girlfriend, who was now the specialist who could save his boy’s life. As soon as the doctor-ex-girlfriend saw this man, her love sparked back into a roaring flame. She would not leave the hospital until the boy was cured. The two would eventually marry, and the family would live happily ever after.

  And there was that woman directly across the road. She was sitting in her car as Kira had walked up the street. The engine on, her wheels turned as if she were to leave. Instead, she scrolled through her phone. Genre, Mystery: She may look like a suburban mom in her minivan, but, in reality, she was the CIA. That van was full of sensitive tracking apparatus, listening devices, and people watching monitors, hidden behind the dark-tint windows. She was waiting for the international crime boss to show, then she’d use her subterfuge to follow him to the drop site. Eventually bagging her man.

  And as she came to the end of the scenario, Kira heard the rumble of a motorcycle. She turned and smiled. “Look at that, Beatrice.” Coming down the road was a cherry-red Harley with a sidecar. “This one is easy. It’s just like in the movie Pete and Me. Only Pete was a lab, not a Malinois. Look how adorable. His little doggie goggles. Aw! So cute!”

  The minivan pulled out and continued down the road. Kira’s storyline was forgotten as the motorcycle turned smoothly into the empty spot right in front of the ice cream parlor.

  Could this be happening?

  “Lula has to see this,” she whispered to Beatrice as she pulled her phone from her bag, tapped on the camera, and started to video the scene.

  The Malinois sat upright in his seat in the sidecar, looking very proud of himself in his mirrored dog goggles. His tongue hung out the side of his mouth in a dopey, contented kind of way.

  And oh, my.

  The man who had been riding the motorcycle stood and swung one long, muscular, jeans-clad leg over the seat. He must be six-one, six-two? And those shoulders! And his tight hips.

  The guy reached up to drag the helmet from his head.

  Kira found herself gripping the edge of the table. “Lula, do you see this? Is this crazy?” she whispered loud enough for her words to be caught on the video to be sent to her friend later when her pulse wasn’t racing.

  Black riding boots, trimmed beard, soft-looking brown hair cut in a short, almost military style. And that t-shirt, tight across his pecs and around his biceps.

  Kira imagined him in her bedroom, reaching down to pull off that snow-white T. Under it, she was sure she’d find washboard abs. Pop the button on those jeans and follow the goody trail... Kira reached up and swiped her fingers around her lips to make sure she wasn’t drooling.

  “It’s exactly like Pete and Me.” She told no one in particular.

  Kira knew that humans could feel eyes staring at them. She’d just used that technique to get the barista’s attention. She certainly didn’t want this guy to turn around and see her staring at his, mmmm, his yummy ass. “Look at that butt, Lula. That is a thing of beauty. How many squats do you think that guy does every day?”

  The guy looked at his dog and gave him some kind of hand signal.

  Kira ducked her chin, reaching up to pull the elastic from her bun and shake her hair across her cheeks so she could gawk from behind the curtain of black hair and the phone she was pretending to read.

  Biker Boy made his way to the order window at the side of the ice cream storefront.

  “Get the vanilla soft serve. Get the vanilla soft serve,” Kira mouthed. Honestly, when did something like this happen, when one of your favorite movies was played out right in front of your eyes?

  After a moment, the man turned. The white peak of ice cream in his hand, a napkin in the other. “Lick it.” She sent the thought wave directives in his direction to keep the scene playing correctly.

  Kira hoped she was capturing all of this. Her friend Lula was going to swoon. It was Lula’s favorite film, too.

  He. Licked. The. Cone.

  Didn’t just lick it. He savored it.

  Kira squirmed in her seat as she watched the slow stroke of his tongue from the cone to the peak, and then another, and another. She blew her breath out slowly through pursed lips as her body tingled. Boy, would she like to be that ice cream right about now.

  Now Studly was offering the cone to his pooch. Pete and Me!

  Studly drew the cone away from the pup after his dog made a lunging bite like he’d like to eat the ice cream cone whole and possibly the hand that held it, too.

  The pup’s tail was thumping so hard it was making the bike shake.

  Studly made a calming gesture and started to hold out the cone. Another lunge, more hand gestures, more gentle commands, then the Malinois started licking it politely.

  Suddenly, Stud muffin’s gaze popped up. He slung his head to the side. He yelled, “Stop,” with his hand up. He flung a “Stay!” over his shoulder as he leaped toward the road.

  Just then, a shriek of tires.

  High pitched yipping of dog terror rose from under the car wheels.

  Bea! Kira had been so engrossed in watching Studly that she hadn’t felt Beatrice pull herself free from the arm of the chair, and the little dog had raced out into the road.

  Kira surged to her feet, clutching her phone to her chest. She ran three steps to the curb. Before she vaulted into the street, the light had turned green at the corner, and a stream of cars drove past, blocking her from helping.

&nb
sp; Kira stood on her tiptoes, trying to see what was happening, her eyelids stretched wide, her eyebrows strained toward her hairline.

  Studly squatted out of view.

  Princess Bea’s shrieking stopped.

  He stood again, with Bea in one hand the ice cream cone in the other. He caught Kira’s gaze. “Your dog’s fine,” he called over to Kira.

  Kira stood there, immobilized with fear and guilt.

  The woman in the car had rolled down her windows. She looked just as affected as Kira.

  “She’s fine, ma’am,” Studly told the driver. “You caught her lead under your wheel. You can drive on.”

  The woman clutched her heart then gave a small wave as she slowly rolled forward.

  Studly crouched again, and this time when he came up, Kira saw he’d grabbed Bea’s leash and reattached it to her collar.

  The next car in line on his side of the road was waiting patiently, and the vehicles on Kira’s side of the road had driven by, so Studly walked over to her.

  Beatrice had leaned over and was licking the ice cream cone.

  Kira looked at the Malinois to see if he was jealous. She bet that dog could take Bea out in a single bite. He just sat in the sidecar, watching the scene through his dog goggles.

  “Yours?” he asked.

  “Goodness, thank you so much,” she said, reaching for Bea and settling her under her arm. “Beatrice, how did you get yourself loose?”

  “I think maybe she saw Rory having some ice cream and wanted some, too. I apologize.” He held out the cone to her. “My treat.”

  Phone and Bea in one hand, dripping ice cream cone in the other, all Kira could do was stand there and blink at Studly.

  With a raised hand, he turned and crossed the street again. She watched as he praised his dog for sitting there like a good boy. He lifted his helmet and was pulling it on as Kira’s tongue untied enough that she could call out, “Thank you so much!”

  He raised a hand in a nonchalant way that told Kira that he was the kind of man who dove toward oncoming cars to save dogs all the time. Her heart was thumping in her chest so hard that she thought she’d pass out. And she thought it probably had little to do with her fright over Beatrice’s safety, though there was some of that in the mix.

  Kira plopped onto her seat at the table as the waitress came out with her iced chai and a bowl of water for Bea. “Is Beatrice okay? I saw that from the window.”

  “She seems fine,” Kira said, her lips buzzing. She put Beatrice on the ground with the ice cream.

  Turning the camera toward her to tap off the video function, Kira saw her face. She left herself recording for a moment while she looked at her expression. It was the exact expression that had been on London’s face when she shook hands with William the very first time and was shot through the heart by Cupid’s arrow, smitten.

  Sweat beaded on her nose and forehead. Kira picked up the chai and downed it in one gulp, trying to cool her heated system.

  Smitten.

  Surely not, surely it was the movie scene and the fear for Beatrice…

  Smitten?

  She looked around and was thoroughly confused that everyone was going on about their day as if the world hadn’t stopped spinning on its axis a moment ago.

  Smitten.

  Wow, it sucked to be her. A man she’d never see again was now pumping through her veins, and a man she’d never seen before was waiting to marry her.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Ty

  When Ty and Rory walked through his hotel room door, he found White lying on his bed with her computer on her lap and a grin on her face.

  “Well, well, well, lover boy.”

  “Don’t call me that.” He let the door bang shut then threw the security latch.

  “Excellent job!”

  “And how would you know?” He tossed the key card on top of the apartment-sized fridge in the room set up for an extended stay. Kitchenette, office space, and a seating area toward the front of the room meant it didn’t feel like White was sitting in his bedroom.

  “Well, the CIA officer who was saving your parking place at the ice cream parlor turned the corner and was watching out the side window of her minivan with her zoom lens.”

  “Don’t do that.” He unclipped Rory and gave him a good rub. “If I know you’ve got spooks around recording me, it’s going to show up in my posture. Feeling eyes on the back of my neck is going to put me in operator mode, and that’s too tense for what you want to happen.”

  “Okay. I’ll call off the spooks. Happy?” She raised a single brow.

  “Not especially. So your colleague has this recorded, and you thought it went okay?” He sat on the edge of the sofa to take off the biker boots that needed breaking in before they’d be comfortable.

  “Better than okay. Kira posted to a select few of her friends on social media. It turns out that Kira was recording, too. I told you that I’ve been developing a relationship with her this year. One of the things that I have in common with Kira is a love for a film called Pete and Me.”

  “I’ve never seen it.”

  “That scene with the motorcycle and the dog, your clothes, the ice cream, all of it was exactly like that film. Rom-com, chick flick, I’m not surprised you haven’t seen it. Anyway, your performance was pitch-perfect up until Princess Beatrice pulled her lead off the chair to get some ice cream, too. I could not have paced this scenario better if I had tried. Come look. She was taping this for me to see, so she narrates.”

  Not comfortable crawling up and sitting with his back against the headboard with White, Ty moved a chair from the dinette over and sat where they could both see the screen.

  First, White played the relevant snippet from the movie.

  Ty didn’t think he looked anything like the actor. Rory for sure didn’t look like a blonde lab. The motorcycle, wardrobe, and ice cream were right. Yeah, he could see how she would have recognized this scene.

  White went on Facebook. “Kira is extremely circumspect with this account. She mainly posts literary quotes and book memes. But occasionally she chooses a private setting and tags certain friends. Usually, London and I get a tag. It’s interesting and meaningful that she tagged two other friends and me, but not London, in this post. Her husband William might feel obligated to show this to Kira’s Uncle Nadir, her protector. That would go over badly, especially when you see and hear her reaction to you. Before I play this, recognize that this is how women talk to each other in private.”

  Ty scratched under his beard. He’d admit it; he was curious about how Kira had seen him. His personal reaction to seeing Kira for the first time was off the charts. He’d never had such a visceral experience when meeting a woman, even a woman he was attracted to romantically. It was like he knew her already, and all he wanted to do was gather her in his arms and hold her tightly to his heart, where she belonged. There you are. Welcome home. It was such a strange, crazy-making feeling that he didn’t know what to do with it.

  He’d been irritated and prickly ever since he’d thrown his leg back over the motorcycle and drove away from her.

  His stomach clenched as he was about to find out what Kira said about him to her friends. Could she have felt the same? That boded poorly for both of them. The last thing Ty wanted to do was hurt Kira in any way.

  White tapped the screen, and the scene played out from her vantage point.

  It was like being a voyeur, and he both wanted to see and felt like he was intruding on Kira’s privacy.

  On the screen, Ty offered a lick of ice cream to Princess Beatrice.

  “That’s perfect. I was going to save this technique for later but look at you, you’re a natural manipulator.”

  “No, ma’am, I’m not. It was a moment of I don’t know—humanity? It was just being a person.”

  “You don’t think people manipulate each other constantly?”

  “I didn’t, and if that’s what we do, I’d probably rather not know about it.” He stood and
lifted the ladderback chair and turned it around to sit backward with his forearms resting across the top. Maybe he needed a bit of a barricade between him and this woman with all her theories. “Honestly, ma’am, your kind of thought process is screwing with my mind a bit.”

  “Look at the comments.” She read from under the video post. “Look what happened today!”

  “Oh, man!” White had posted as Lula. “It’s like a scene out of that movie. When do I get to meet him?”

  Kira responded, “Oh, I’ll never see him again. No idea what his name even is.”

  “Did you catch his face? He’s so cute!” Karen had posted. “His eyes are gorgeous.”

  “Face? I can’t see his face. I’m transfixed by his body. Holy moly, come to mama, big boy.” Barb posted.

  “My god! He’s an Adonis. And his pupper. Smooches!” Karen commented with a string of hearts.

  “We need to find him,” White said as Lula.

  “No way to find him. Let it go,” Kira had typed. “Besides, it looks like things have already been arranged as far as my love life goes :’( But it was fun this happened today.”

  “What does that mean? Have you met someone? Spill!” Karen wrote.

  Kira didn’t answer.

  White tapped the screen and the video Kira had made played again.

  He watched himself jog across the street to get back to Rory. He’d been worried that Rory would think that ice cream belonged to him, and as the alpha, he deserved all of it. There had been a good chance Rory might have just dashed over and retrieved the cone. But Ty thought the real reward for Rory was riding around in the sidecar. He’d had a blast. Ty might even consider buying one for Rory. It would also give him a place to put his groceries or an overnight bag if Ty decided to go on a bike trip.

  “Ha, see here?” White stopped the video. “She thinks she’s turned off the video as she lays her phone down. Watch what she does.”