First, he just had to hope Hera didn’t randomly get selected for a pat down. The bodyguard in him would need to stand back. But the mate in him would want to tear off someone’s arms.
She looked up at him with surprise, almost as if she could hear his thoughts. It had felt like that sometimes.
“You okay, John?” she asked.
Even that name felt right from her lips. He sighed. “Yeah. Just tense.”
She put a warm hand on his bicep, gave him a reassuring squeeze he felt all the way down to his toes. “It’s going to be okay.”
But it wasn’t. Because now that she was here, he was remembering how strongly he’d felt she was his mate. But someone like him wasn’t allowed to have a mate.
So it was never going to be okay.
Still, he gave her a reassuring smile that didn’t reach his eyes and followed her over to the scanner. At least he could see her one more time and keep any creeps away. Maybe help her choose who she should be with, as controlling as that seemed.
Someone like him would have to be happy with whatever he could get. If that was only her happiness, then so be it.
“You go ahead,” he said, pushing her gently in front of him. “I’ll be right here.”
She looked reassured by that, and he took a deep breath. This was going to be his hardest mission ever.
Chapter 3
When they were finally settled on the plane, Hera looked over and stole a glance at Hercules leaned back with his eyes closed, resting on the giant first class seat that nonetheless looked small compared to him.
They’d had a pretty uneventful boarding, aside from the ready-to-kill glares Hercules had given a couple innocent bystanders. He was protective, and she’d always liked that. She’d forgotten how much.
Now they were safely on the plane in the two seats reserved for them. He was seated on the aisle, closing her off from the world around them, and seemed satisfied enough to finally go to sleep.
Which gave her a chance to really look at him.
She couldn’t believe how good Hercules, now John, looked. Well, she could believe it because he’d always been the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen, but he was surpassing all of that now, carefully groomed, dressed to the nines for her in brands that bespoke power and wealth.
Even if he was most powerful to her naked.
His hair was smoothed back in a low ponytail, as usual, but he was wearing a crisp dress shirt in light blue that set off his tan. On his wrist was a high-end watch that probably cost a couple months’ salary. At his waist, a fine leather belt. And then perfectly tailored black slacks over his long legs and black dress shoes over his large feet. Feet that just happened to correlate perfectly to another sizeable part of him.
He was so busy being overprotective of her that he hadn’t noticed just how many women were looking at him. Hera felt a protective wave roll through her every time a woman walked past or one of the flight attendants gave the sleeping man an affectionate look or asked if she could get anything for him.
He was hers. He just didn’t know it yet.
She fingered a small jewelry box she kept in her purse pocket. She’d bought a wedding ring for him when she’d been out shopping in her home town, when she’d been contemplating the mission. If everything went well, she meant to use it. Women were allowed to propose, right? After all, she should be the one to, since she’d been the one to screw up everything before by digging too hard into things he didn’t want dug into.
She should have just appreciated what they had. She shouldn’t have tried to push for more when he wasn’t ready. He had his reasons for hiding things from her. An inner darkness he kept pushed far away that she only caught glimpses of on rare occasions. Like when she’d asked him his real name.
Valerie was her real name. She loved the name Hera and everything it meant to her, especially when they’d been together and he’d been the one saying it. But she also had a life before and after him and many people she loved that called her Valerie.
Didn’t he have anyone like that?
He stirred beside her and looked over with one open eye, as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to open the other yet. Then he stretched and sat forward as an announcement played about takeoff and returning seats to their original position and stowing tray tables.
He got in the right position and clicked the seat belt over his tight waist and looked over to make sure she’d done the same. Once again, she felt that warm, familiar safely she always had when he was with her.
They started toward the runway, and she lifted the shade of her window to look out as the ground started to speed past them as the plane took off down the runway. Watching the ground fall away beneath them never got old.
He leaned back against his chair again, eyes resting.
“You don’t want to see?” she asked.
He peeked at her with one eye. “I’ve been on a few more flights than you,” he said.
Oh, right. Well, it was true the men she’d supplied intelligence to were always the ones jumping into hostile territory. For him, looking out of the plane was a matter of business, not relaxation.
“Of course,” she said. “How could I forget?” She put a finger up to the window, tracing the shape of the lines on the runway as the plane jiggled and accelerated. Then she felt that drop in her stomach as the flight jerked up and then lifted into suspended ascension.
She let out a breath of relief as the ground started to get smaller beneath them. As they rose, it began to look like a little topographical map. And then the clouds came into view and everything went white as they rose among them.
She felt eyes on her and turned to see Hercules staring. But his eyes were soft and affectionate rather than guarded. Just for that moment, she saw his feelings staring back at her.
So they were still there.
Then he snapped himself back to reality, his eyes back to the seat in front of him where a TV was mounted. “You want anything to drink?”
She fought back a hysterical laugh. This was all so awkward. There was a time when they’d been most comfortable with each other. That time was clearly not now. “No, I’m fine. Wait, yes, some water.”
She needed something to cool down. Being this close to him, his scent was nearly unbearable. Cool and crisp like an icy lake and then a burst of heat, something molten. A scent of contradictions and, for her, unbearably erotic. She fanned her face and then turned on the overhead vent to cool the air around her.
Hercules gave her a curious look but then went back to getting the attention of the stewardess.
Maybe planning to spend two hours alone with him in a plane was a bad deal after all.
She took a bottle of ice-cold water from the stewardess and chugged it without meeting Hercules’s eyes.
She put aside the bottle, and after making sure there was nothing else she needed, Hercules reclined his chair and went back to sleep.
She leaned on the window, disappointed they wouldn’t get a chance to talk. Her eyes roamed over his perfect, bronzed chest, rising and falling, just begging her to touch it.
Down girl, she told her bear. It’s not time to make a move yet.
But maybe, if things went well, he’d be ready to talk tonight. Maybe do more than talk, if she was lucky.
Hercules was fairly quiet on the rest of the trip. Even on the private plane over to Rollings Island, he’d been willing only to talk about his work at Bear Claw and what had happened since he hadn’t been in the service. He’d worked odd jobs and never really fit in until Bronson had contacted him with a job opportunity. He’d visited a few of the men he used to work with, all of whom felt happy to see him.
But he didn’t talk about any family, as usual. Any people he knew before the army. It was almost like his life before hadn’t existed.
Still, it was a mystery that had driven her nuts before, and she wasn’t going to ruin things again. Maybe, if he trusted her, he would tell her. But she wasn’t going to pry again. She just want
ed to be with him. That had to be enough, right?
When they stepped off the private plane and Hercules had gathered up their bags, Hera took a moment to breathe in the fresh sea air on the island where she’d grown up. Her ancestors had settled the island, and it was now a small but bustling place for a little town with her family at the center.
She wasn’t looking forward to the men who were coming to stay at her family’s sprawling estate, but she was happy it gave her an excuse to finally go see Hercules. An excuse to bring him into her world. He didn’t have to tell her about his past in order to fit into hers. Maybe she could just give him a family instead.
She knew that was a fantastical way of thinking, and the very rational woman in her knew she was building castles in the clouds. But when it came to Hercules, she couldn’t help it. He’d always been a walking fantasy. Being with him had always been too good to be true.
Even when he was quiet and guarded, as he was now.
As they walked toward the edge of the runway, there was a man waiting with a sign, standing next to a rental car. It was a red convertible, and he handed the keys to Hera.
Hercules gave her another raised eyebrow but then just proceeded to take the keys from her, open the trunk, and put their bags there and in the backseat.
It was a little odd how much luggage he had, but she presumed one of the packed, canvas duffels was probably carrying security gear. She felt a little bad that he actually thought this was a fairly serious mission.
Yeah, Bentley was a little handsy, but she wasn’t really in danger from anyone here that she couldn’t handle. The real danger was losing Hercules because she couldn’t swallow her pride and go back to him in time.
Hopefully, this circumvented that. Hopefully, everything would go well.
“I read the email you sent with the brief on our made-up past,” Hercules said, handing her the keys. “I’ll let you drive since you know where we’re going.”
“Thanks,” she teased, starting the car. “Yeah, I just made something up.”
“I work in banking?” he asked with a small scowl. “Do I look like a banker?”
No, you look like a Greek god, but powerfully sexy isn’t a job description.
“You look like you could be anyone you want to be,” she said, evading his question.
“I look like a gigolo,” he said, looking down at his clothes. “Don’t I?”
“Nah,” she said. “Well, the sort of Fabio hair doesn’t help.”
“My hair isn’t that long,” he said.
“I know,” she said. “Plus, you’re so much manlier and hotter than Fabio.”
He let out a little huff and smirked. “As long as you admit it.”
She put up a hand in surrender. “I wouldn’t dare defy you, oh great one.”
He laughed out loud, and when he looked over at her, his eyes were full of relief, not the tension he’d held at the airport. Ever since she’d seen him really. A little of the old Hercules was back. And the old chemistry between them.
“So how long have we been together?” he asked.
“Two years,” she said. “But long distance. Didn’t you read it?”
He nodded, pursing lips that could have been carved from marble with a little divot at the top. “Yeah, I was just making sure you did.”
“I wrote it,” she said.
“Yeah, well, people forget things,” he said.
She wondered if there was a double meaning there. If there was, he was wrong. She hadn’t forgotten anything about him.
“I don’t,” she said. “Not when it comes to you.”
He took a deep breath and was quiet at that.
She drove onto the side roads that led to her family’s vineyards and beyond that, the estate.
“So do you think they’ll catch on to us?” he asked.
“If someone asks invasive questions, just look at them like it’s beneath you and change the subject,” she said. “It’s what someone in our circle would do if someone was prying.”
“Good to know,” he said. “So I should just act like a jackass?”
“Hey,” she said. “Some rich people are jackasses, but my family members aren’t. Give them a chance, okay?”
“It doesn’t really matter what I think, does it?” he asked, putting his hands behind his head and showing off massive biceps.
She frowned. “Hm, how should we explain your size?”
“Bear shifter?”
“I know a lot of pure-blooded bear shifters. They aren’t all that buff,” she said.
The corner of his mouth quirked up in a cocky smile she loved. He was rarely like that, but when he was, it was smokin’ hot. “We can just tell them I’m ripped from carrying the weight of the world’s finances on my shoulders.”
She laughed and thumped the wheel. “Dammit, I’ve missed you, Herc. Why don’t we tell them you played football in college and have stayed in shape since?”
“Sure,” he said. “What about the hair? I think men in your circles probably don’t wear it like this, all long and rugged.”
“Rugged?” she asked. “You mean beautiful, like some kind of shampoo commercial?”
He frowned. “I’m rugged; thus, my hair is.”
“Okay, big guy,” she said with a giggle. “You know I love it.” She could remember wrapping it around the back of her hand and pulling him in for hard, passionate kisses. She intended to do that again. “Why do you keep it long anyway? Because you like it? You can just tell them that.”
“It just grows like this,” he said. “Super fast. I guess I like it.” But he didn’t look like he was telling the whole truth.
She gave him a suspicious look. “Why do I feel like there’s more to the story?”
His brown eyes, flashing brandy in the sun, flicked off to the side, avoiding hers. “I don’t like haircuts.”
And there it was, the darkness that had flashed when she’d asked about his name as well.
What had he been through before she’d met him?
Did she even want to know?
Hell yeah, she wanted to know everything about him. But she wasn’t going to let her insatiable curiosity ruin things this time. She loved knowing things, and as an intelligence agent, she’d had the perfect position to know whatever she wanted.
But she’d learned people weren’t like that. You had to let them tell you what they wanted when they wanted.
They pulled up to a huge iron gate with an intercom on it, and she pressed the button.
“Val?” her mother’s voice asked. “You’re here! Oh, and you brought him. I’m opening the gate now, baby girl.” Then an electronic whir sounded, and the gate opened.
Hercules looked taken aback, both by the fact that whoever was on the intercom had seen them on camera and by the gates opening in front of them them to a huge, sprawling green lawn and a long drive up to a giant, old-style mansion.
“Baby girl?” he asked, cocking his head at her.
She grinned nervously. “Yeah, um… I’m not a Greek queen at home, if you couldn’t already tell.”
He laughed at that and put his hands behind his head again. “I guess I’m in for an interesting meeting?”
She nodded. “Brace yourself.”
“Honey, I’m ex-Special Forces. I’m always ready.”
A thrill of heat went through her at that, but she ignored it as she pulled forward. “Hothead,” she muttered.
Hercules just threw back his head and laughed.
Chapter 4
Hercules recognized Hera’s mother, May, the moment they walked in the door. She was a shorter, warmer, more enthusiastic version of her daughter, and she enveloped them in warm hugs the moment they stepped in the door.
She wore a teal sundress that floated around her as she stepped back to look at them.
Hera’s father stayed back, watching warily as Hera took Hercules’s arm and pulled him stiffly forward into the marble entryway that was one of the fanciest Hercules had ever seen.
Some of his other buddies were rich, but it was nothing like this.
Hera’s dad was a tall man with graying hair and a muscled physique. She must have gotten her height from him. And her occasional sternness.
Her father walked forward and put out a hand for Hercules to shake. When he took it, they engaged in a short test of strength that left both slightly sore afterward. Seeing this man appraising him, testing him to see if he was good enough for his daughter, made Hercules wanted to prove he was, even if it were a moot point.
“I’m Bob Niles, Valerie’s father,” he said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his Chinos as his wife, still glowing, wrapped her arm around his, much like Hera was doing with Hercules. “Nice to meet you, John.”
His voice was stern, but Hercules liked the way the other man stood tall and erect, with pride but without looking down on him. He might have been overprotective at first glance, but he was quickly trying to be open to the situation, which appeared to have been sprung on him.
It was okay. Herc felt protective of Hera, too. They had that in common at least, even if in any other way, they were world’s apart.
Bob turned and gestured for them to follow. “Come on. We’ve got dinner waiting. You two are late.”
Hera gave him an apologetic grin and walked forward to join up with her mom, leaving Hercules to wonder at the decor all around him. He felt slightly itchy at the whole situation.
“Where should I put our things?” he asked, trying to take care of the only thing currently in his control.
“The servants will take it,” Bob said, barely looking.
“I want to,” Hercules said.
Hera looked at him, pleading with her eyes for him to let it go, so he did.
“All right,” he said, letting go of his duffle bag. “Never mind.”
Bob studied him intently for a moment and then kept walking toward the kitchen.
When they got there, it was wide and open with bay windows looking out on an immense garden so bright sunlight streamed over them as they sat at a white table in a kitchen shimmering with pale granite and stainless steel appliances. Despite the ornate, old-fashioned appearance outside, they seemed to keep it modern inside.
Bear-ly Human (Bear Claw Security Book 4) Page 3
