“Okay,” she said in a hushed breath.
“There’s one thing,” he added.
She knitted her hands together waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“It’s a two-way street.”
“How so?”
“You need to tell me everything you know. Honesty. That’s what will get us out of this alive.”
What other choice did she have? She had to put her trust in him. She was so far from home, so far out of her comfort zone, and only had Nick to turn to at this point.
They’d shared something intimate. Something personal. Something soulful. Surely, he wouldn’t harm her. She had to believe that.
“I’ll do my best,” she finally said. It was the truth. “Can you at least tell me where we’re headed?”
“I told you on the plane. My family has some property, a secluded cottage north of Upper Nyack. It’s stocked up with provisions and supplies. We can hunker down for a few days if we have to, and figure this out.”
She watched the landscape speed by as they continued driving. She wondered what it was like in all of those houses on the hill where people lived normal lives, helping their kids with their homework or worry about filing their income taxes or if the milk was still good. They weren’t worried about losing their life because they witnessed something they weren’t supposed to see. They hadn’t fled for their life out of fear and necessity. And, they hadn’t just been taken into custody—or whatever—by a handsome blue-eyed, dark-haired stranger with the promise of protection at all costs.
She’d been so trusting of Nick before, and then he betrayed her. Why should she trust him now? He said he was invested, that he’d stepped out of the boundaries of what he was tasked to do. What if that was just bullshit on top of bullshit?
Deep in her heart, though, she wanted to think she was a better judge of character and that although he was initially playing a role, something inside of him wanted to help and protect her more because she’d gotten in. Maybe just a little.
They continued north, blending in with the commuter traffic crossing the long and busy Tappan Zee Bridge over to Rockland County. Nicole sat up as they were at the peak of the bridge and snagged a distant view of New York City. She could see the Empire State Building and the Freedom Tower both lit for all to see. The city was breathtaking and so full of hopes and dreams for everyone seeking a second chance or a new beginning.
“I’ve always loved New York,” Nick admitted.
“I haven’t visited the city since I was twelve,” she said. “My mom took me to the top of the Empire State Building because I had this fear of heights at the time.”
“Really? But you’re over it now?”
She felt herself nod as she relived that precious and near final moment with her mother. “She told me not to be afraid of heights… of anything. A few birds flew by right at that moment, soaring around so confidently. She said baby birds were pushed out of the nest and forced to fly right then and there. They didn’t have a chance to be scared or even think twice. They had to do whatever they had to. This was life or death, and the goal was to survive. She said she’d never do that to me, but she knew I’d fly high if I had to, tucking away any hesitation or dread I had about anything. She told me to set my sight above what’s around me.” Nicole paused for a few seconds, remembering the feel of her mom’s hand in hers that day in the fresh breeze and summer sunshine. “I wasn’t afraid. In fact, I felt invincible. And, I sort of have ever since.”
She hesitated to check for a response in Nick’s face in the shadow of the headlights. An image and sensation surfaced, of her mom’s hand clasped around hers. Then, she shifted her eyes down and saw that Nick had taken her hand in his at some point while she was relaying her story.
There was no pulling away. There was no returned affection.
It just… was.
“Your mom sounds like an amazing, loving woman,” Nick finally said, breaking the silence.
“She was,” Nicole said. She swallowed the massive lump of emotion in her throat. “Exactly two weeks later, she was dead.”
Her body was cold and tense. Thoughts of losing her mother always did that to her. So much had attributed to that, though. Things her pre-teen mind hadn’t understood then, and her adult brain couldn’t sort it out much better. She was still working on the idea of forgiveness. Forgetting, though? That was never gonna happen.
Maybe she should give Nick the chance that she’d given to others in her life.
“I’m sorry about that,” he said. With a final squeeze, he let go of her hand and turned the car onto 9W North.
They rode in silence for about twenty minutes as Nick steered the car on the small road between Rockland Lake and the Hook Mountain State Park. He pulled off on a hidden path that was more for horses or farm equipment than a vehicle. He drove slowly through the trail until she saw a charming cottage up ahead. There weren’t any lights shining from the inside, and no other houses anywhere around, either.
He pulled around the back under a small car port and killed the engine.
“Boy, you weren’t kidding that it’s secluded. Does it even have running water and electricity?”
Nick shook his head. “You’ll be safe here, Nicole. There’s everything you need here.”
“Except my phone and passport and—”
He breathed out. “Are we really going to go over that again?”
“Fine. There better be soda.”
He gathered their things from the car and walked her up the stone path to the front porch. It stretched around three parts of the house with rocking chairs placed at intervals for relaxation. The moon shone brightly over the water to the east, casting not an eerie glow, rather a romantic one.
“Is that the Hudson?” she asked.
“Yeah… we’re at the northern tip of the state park. Private land.”
“You grew up here?” she pressed as she monitored his facial features in the moonlight.
“No. I grew up in California. In wine country. My adoptive parents had some land in upstate New York. This place was more of a family cottage, a place to getaway, not too far or too close to the city. They gave it to me before I went into the Army and I’ve always considered it as my refuge. My place to recharge, regroup, and plan my next move, whatever it may be at the time.”
She bit her bottom lip to keep from shivering. “What is that now?”
“Taking care of you, Nicole,” he said without hesitation.
Wow. His words touched her deep to her core. To the center of her womb, causing warmth to spread out to all the right places. He really did seem to care about her.
He glided the key into the lock, reached inside the door, and snapped on a light.
She followed him into the cottage, marveling that a guy actually lived here and decorated it. She’d expected dead deer heads and grizzly bears mounted to the wall or a talking bass over the mantle. The place was smartly decorated with dark wood furniture, and navy-colored cushions on the couch and chair. Across the room was a stone hearth, not with an animal trophy, but a tri-folded American flag in a frame.
Nick seemed to understand where her eyes had landed. “It was the flag on my dad’s coffin,” he explained.
As someone who’d grown up around military personnel her whole life, she’d seen her share of flags folded this way and placed in various memorial locations in houses.
Nicole crossed the room and inspected the plaque at the bottom:
In loving memory of Sargent Major Norwood Nicholas Taylor, USA
Veteran of Vietnam and Desert Storm
“Taylor? Your last name is Taylor or do you go by your adopted name?”
“It’s Taylor. Norwood Nicholas Taylor II,” he said proudly.
Ordinarily, Nicole might poke fun at a name like Norwood, but in this case, it was a noble, proud, hero’s name. Not this time. She smiled. “Nick fits you.”
“Thanks,” he said. He brushed his hand at what appeared to be dust gathered on
the frame. She surmised it must have been a while since he’d been here, not too long, though. It was obvious this place was taken care of and well-stocked. There was a stack of logs next to the fireplace, and in the adjacent kitchen, she could see a shelf filled with cans, jars, and boxes of food.
“A ‘nick’ off the original, my mom said. Not that I remember either one of them too much,” he added.
“How old were you when your dad died?”
“Four. My mom died a month later.”
Nicole’s hand shot up to her mouth. “God, Nick. That’s horrible. No one should have to go through that. You were just a little boy.”
He shrugged and continued moving through the cottage. A small hallway led passed a modern bathroom—complete with indoor plumbing—and down into a master bedroom. There was a king-sized bed with a comfy, thick comforter made from a blue and green plaid, as well as a mound of inviting pillows. The bed faced a set of large double doors leading out to the porch and overlooking the Hudson.
“You can have the bedroom,” he said to her. “I’ll take the couch.”
“I can’t put you out,” she said.
“It’s no trouble really. I probably won’t get much sleep as it is. I rarely do.”
She bowed her head to stare at her feet. “Sort of the sleep-with-one-eye-open type?”
“You could say so. Army training. Whenever I’d have to stand post, I could sleep standing up for a full minute and be completely refreshed.”
Nicole breathed out a throaty laugh. “That’s messed up.”
“Yeah… well.”
She sat on the edge of the bed, luxuriating in the soft downiness around her. “Look, Nick. I appreciate what you’re doing for me, but wouldn’t it just be better at this point to go to the authorities and tell them what’s going on?”
“What authority would that be?”
She threw her hands up in total frustration. Was he starting to get cocky, or was he just more ironic than usual? “I don’t know. FBI? CIA? Homeland Security? You tell me.”
He shook his head vehemently. “Absolutely not. You don’t know who has infiltrated what level of what agency.”
She stood and faced him, annoyed beyond reason. “Like your secret organization that sends you around the world as a paid assassin or to stalk someone, and then kidnaps them?”
He advanced on her. “Cut the shit, Nicole. You’re hardly a fucking kidnap victim. God!” Ramming his hands into his hair, he paced the room. “There’s no authority that can help. Okay? We have to take our chances on our own until we can figure things out.”
Going toe to toe the best she could with someone so much taller than her, Nicole got in Nick’s way. “You cut the shit. You said you’d fill me in on what’s going on once we got here. Well, we’re here. Talk.”
“Not until we get something to eat.”
“I’m not hungry!”
Waving her off, Nick added, “Okay, then not until you calm down.”
She patrolled around now in his footsteps. “I can promise you that isn’t going to happen anytime soon. I’m going crazy here, Nick. You don’t understand. You’re a soldier. You’re fierce and brave and strong. I’m not. I’ve got street smarts. I know things most people shouldn’t. But, goddammit…” She stopped and took a deep breath to say the next thing. “I’m scared to death right now.”
She collapsed on the bed and let the tears fall, wetting her cheeks with the freedom of the emotions she’d pent up inside. She hated being this weak and letting her fears, trepidations, and feelings get the better of her. Her father would be so disappointed in her if he could see her now.
She felt the bed dip down before she felt Nick touch her arm. His caress was subtle, gentle, concerning and not just sexual. His arm wove around her, and she allowed herself to relax her head on his shoulder. His energy flowed into her, giving her the courage to lift her head and realize she wasn’t in this alone. He was with her and really did want to take care of her.
“No authorities?” she asked meekly.
“I’m the authority,” he said into her hair.
She shook slightly as a mirthful laugh escaped her. “Okay… thanks.”
This breakdown told her she wouldn’t be better off taking chances on her own. Still, she wasn’t going to let hiding out with this overprotective hunk be her only option.
For now, it was best.
Down the road, maybe not.
Nick
Rockland County
This was Nick’s safe house. Safer than any place he’d ever known. Safer than any army barracks, foster home, or four-star hotel. Here, he had complete control over everything.
He’d secured the entire premises with security cameras and trip wires. He had a cellar dug for any type of emergency or safe haven. He had provisions and supplies to last him months. And, he had ammunition, communication devices, alternative identification, and cash. Lots of it.
In his line of work, he could never be too careful. He never knew if someone would come after him. He’d killed in the line of duty, and he’d done so in the name of order, fighting pure evil, and sometimes, to follow orders with no understanding of the reasons. But if Nicole’s father or someone associated with Terratech or whoever wanted to seek him out or hunt him down, he was prepared.
Except now, he’d brought Nicole into his fortress. A damned mark herself.
Yet, the circumstances were beyond both of their control.
Even though he’d destroyed her phone back at the airport, he wanted to make sure the burner ones he had in the cottage were tucked safely away. Since he was giving her the bedroom, he needed to retrieve the case he had some items hidden in.
“I’ll only be a minute,” he said to her and closed the door behind her. He went to the bedroom fireplace and loosened the stone at the left side of the mantle to reveal a secret hiding place. The burner phones were all in there—six of them—so he placed them in a towel, replaced the stone, and tucked the package up underneath his arm.
Back out in the living room, he saw Nicole had settled into the couch and was staring out at the Hudson.
“It’s almost like a mini-ocean,” she said sort of trance-like.
“I love the water,” he told her. “Any water. I just want to be near it. Around it. In it.”
“Same here,” she beamed. “I got my SCUBA certification two years ago at the YMCA. Other than my check-out dives, I haven’t gone anywhere. I’d love to go to the Caribbean or Australia’s Great Barrier Reef or that place where the International Date Line is underwater.”
“Fiji. It’s in Fiji,” he said.
“I totally want to do that.” She lifted a brow at him. “Do you dive? Oh, wait… you’re a freaking Ranger. You do everything.”
“Well, I have done everything,” he said with a laugh.
He crossed the room and inconspicuously dumped the contents of the towel into his duffel without her noticing. Then, he moved over to her and handed her the large bath cloth.
“The shower is excellent and I highly recommend using it. It’ll help you relax.”
She accepted the towel and set it in her lap. “Are you just trying to get me naked again?”
His mouth fell open, forgetting for a moment that they’d gone there, and he rubbed his chin to think about it. He could see Nicole was mortified with herself for having said that as the red blush stained her cheeks.
“I’m so kidding,” she said quickly. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. It was funny.”
She dropped her eyes and then stood up, tossing the towel over her shoulder. “A shower sounds nice. Who knows when I’ll have the opportunity again… on the run and all.” She began to walk away and then stopped, pivoted, and considered something. “You know, in the movies and on television, no one bathes. I mean, they’re on the run, fighting the bad guys, solving crime, and doing good all round. They just don’t take a shower or clean up. Why is that?”
He shrugged and tossed his arms up. “What
can I say? It’s a dirty business.”
“Apparently.”
She smiled and left the room.
In no time, he heard the water turn on, so he went into the kitchen to set about making something to eat.
As he plundered through his supplies, he tried not to think about Nicole completely naked just through the wall. Even though he’d set up surveillance cameras everywhere, the bathroom was private. Now, he almost regretted that decision as he imagined her soaping herself, letting the suds run between the valley of her perfectly shaped breasts. The bubbles covering the tips of her nipples like snow on a mountain top. The cascade of water flowing down her flat stomach, over the crescent moon birthmark, and down to wet the waxed mons leading to what he knew to be a hot cavern of passion.
All he wanted was to feel her pussy clenched around his dick again.
Fuck.
He fought the desire to kick down the bathroom door and drag her to the floor all wet and hot and cover every inch of her with passionate kisses, deeper than they’d shared before.
Shaking out of it the best he could, he sorted through the food choices and withdrew several items he could work with: cans of tuna, green peas, mushrooms, cream of mushroom soup, some potato chips, and a box of pasta noodles. GI barracks food – good old tuna noodle casserole. He was no gourmet, but he knew this would satisfy both of them. Well, their appetites, that was.
He mixed everything together and preheated the gas oven in no time. He put the ingredients into a dish and then crumbled the potato chips on top before placing into the oven. He set the timer and then heard the water stop. Nicole had taken one hell of a long shower. Had she been in there thinking of him and pleasuring herself?
Moving to the fireplace, Nick took several pieces of kindling and wadded up some paper underneath. He struck a large match and touched it to the small teepee he’d built. Soon, the fire ignited, spread around, and began warming the room. He added a couple of logs, and soon the flames were crackling and dancing about in the hearth. Setting the screen in front of it, he turned to see Nicole standing at the opening of the hallway with her wet hair combed in place and the blue towel hanging from her thin frame.
Two Firefighters Next Door: A Bad Boy MFM Romance Page 29
