by Carly Fall
She guided him to the left, and concrete gave way to grass. As she sniffed around, he listened to the birds high up in the trees, calling to each other as they got ready for sleep. The smell of chlorine assaulted him, and he guessed the pool had to be to the right in the yard. The air held a little chill that hadn’t been present before, and he released Savannah’s halter so she could roam while he followed the sound of her paws meeting the grass. She did her business, and the tension in his shoulders eased as the cool evening breeze caressed his face. Although a bit hungry, he’d turn in for the night after feeding the dog, as he wasn’t in the mood to tangle any further with Ella.
The pungent smell of dog feces met his nose, and Savannah barked as he grimaced. He’d trained her to sit and bark when she finished pooping. Sighing, he pulled a plastic bag from his pocket and bent over, finding the pile with a little effort. Savannah took off again, and he heard her sniffing around the yard.
He turned toward the house and frowned. How long would Ella be holed up in her office?
Ella—a fascinating woman who had piqued his interest in a very short amount of time. During their brief encounter, the faint smell of lilacs had caressed his nose, and he couldn’t help but wonder what she looked like. Hopefully, he’d catch a glimpse of her in the mirror at some point. Whatever had happened to make her so nasty? In his experience, very few people held that disposition naturally; there seemed to usually be a catalyst. Her anger had been based on something, and the more he considered it, the more it seemed Joe could be the cause for it.
He’d only known Joe for a short period of time, but he’d never heard anyone talk to him or about him with such disrespect or with voices laced with hatred. Everyone he’d heard speak to Joe held the upmost admiration for the man, so why did Joe put up with Ella’s disdain? Could it be a case of her lashing out at the one who made her the angriest?
Interesting. He apparently had a little puzzle on his hands, and the more he considered it, he came to the conclusion he needed to make the pieces fit and figure out the answers to slake his own curiosity. What, or who, had made Ella the way she’d become?
He’d probably be better off just minding his own business, but he didn’t know how long he’d be staying with her, so he had to amuse himself, somehow.
He’d agreed to work with Joe for one reason—he’d been struggling with how to exact his revenge for his blindness, and who to target. When Garrett had showed up at his door, he’d figured he had nothing to lose. As his friend had told him the explosion hadn’t been an accident but a governmental experiment, he’d known he’d made the right choice by going with him. Now that he stood in the folds of Joe’s organization, he felt closer to his target than he ever had.
But that wasn’t the be-all and end-all—he had day-to-day life to contend with, and his time here would involve prickly Ella.
“Make sure you pick up all that crap,” she called, interrupting his thoughts.
He smiled, nodded, and waved, intrigued by the woman. He would definitely have to charm her to reveal what lay within her to make her anger boil with such intensity.
If she didn’t watch herself, that nonsense would eat her alive.
Chapter 4
“Get out of my way, you stupid dog!”
It had been one day already, and Ella had finally snapped at poor Savannah.
Zach’s anger flared at her words, and he stood from the living room chair and moved into the kitchen. “Is there a problem?”
She sighed heavily. “I feel like this damn dog is always under my feet.”
He fought the urge to gut-punch her. No one spoke of his Savannah in a negative light.
“Savannah, come,” he said, keeping his tone soft so she knew he wasn’t angry with her.
It was one thing for Ella to snap at him, which she’d done many times throughout the day. As he’d tried to engage her in conversation, the shrew had either outright ignored him, given him a one-word answer, or sighed as if he happened to be the most annoying thing in her life at the moment. He found it all more amusing and interesting than anything.
However, Savannah certainly didn’t deserve her wrath. The dog didn’t have a mean bone in her body, and if she’d been underfoot, it most likely had been because she wanted to become friends with Ella, or there happened to be a scrap of food on the floor. He wouldn’t stand for it.
“Stay,” he whispered as he maneuvered around the counter. He heard Ella messing with something about two feet away. Her back must have been to him as she didn’t say anything as he closed in on her.
“I want to make one thing very clear,” he said, and she gasped.
“Step back!”
“Or what? What are you going to do? Shoot me? Stab me? Knee me in the nuts?”
“You’re just too close! I won’t hesitate to hurt you if I need to!”
“I’m very well aware of that, Ella, but let me make something utterly clear to you.”
He grinned, as if he’d just said something funny, and crossed his arms over his chest. “You do not, under any circumstances, talk to my dog in a rude tone. She’s very sensitive to the way she’s spoken to, and your nasty voice conveys so much. If you don’t like her, fine, but she’s not a threat, nor is she a bother to you. If she was underfoot, she was either trying to become your friend—although why she’d want to do that, I’m not sure—or she was trying to clean up a mess you made when you dropped a piece of food on the floor. Either way, she doesn’t deserve you speaking to her like that.”
Ella remained silent, and he stepped closer to her and inhaled deeply. He smelled mint, and damn, that lilac scent of hers really got his blood pumping.
“I’m going to tell you a story,” he continued, not giving her a chance to interrupt him. “This tale took place about five years ago in North Carolina. I was in a pizza joint with some friends. We’d just returned from overseas, and we were pounding down beers like they were the last ones left on this Earth. We were a little loud, but not terribly obnoxious.
“Out of the corner of my eye, I saw this woman scowling at us from a booth across the restaurant. I looked at her companion, and he seemed just as miserable as she did, and it led me to wonder which of them was the instigator in their mutual unhappiness.
“Throughout the evening, she kept staring at us, the scowl on her face growing deeper and deeper. Her contempt for us was obvious, and every time I glanced over at her, she attempted to let me know that.
“Now, here’s the thing. You remind me a lot of her. You try to poison everyone and everything around you with your shitty attitude. However, no matter what you do to me, what you say or don’t say, you aren’t going to piss in my proverbial cheerios, Ella. I don’t let people like you affect me.”
He smiled again and took another step toward her so he could feel her body heat. They must almost stand chest-to-chest. “However, if you talk badly to my dog, then I get really, really angry, Ella, and that, I can promise you, is something you don’t want to see.”
He stepped back and chuckled. “I’m going outside with Savannah. I hope you enjoy the rest of your afternoon.”
She exhaled loudly as he shut the sliding glass door leading out to the patio, and he hoped she’d taken his warning seriously.
Nobody fucked with his dog.
Chapter 5
“You should eat something,” Ella said later that day.
When he’d gotten in her face about Savannah, she’d been a little bit afraid—he’d meant every word of what he’d said to her. She hated that she’d become the person to piss in someone’s proverbial cheerios. The shameful feeling had remained with her during the past hours, and now, she struggled to make amends with him.
“I’m fine, but thank you. I’ll be heading off to bed now.”
“But it’s only six.”
“I know. I think I’ll go read for a while.”
“Look, I put time and effort into this meal,” she added, more sternly than she had wanted. “Sit down so I can
feed you.”
“I don’t want to be a burden on you, Ella,” Zach said with a grin. “I certainly don’t need a babysitter.”
She sighed, a little pang of guilt racing through her. She never should have been so awful to him. He seemed polite and nice, almost refined with his devastating good looks, impeccable clothes, and quiet, yet smooth voice. And now, she had to apologize for being such a raging bitch. Joe brought that out in her, and she had a tough time letting go when he popped up every so often in her life.
“I’m sorry for saying that,” she bit out, still not fully trusting Zach and still furious with Joe.
Zach waved his hand, as if to clear her words from the air. “You were angry.”
“Yes.”
“If I’m not mistaken, I smell chicken with a hint of barbeque sauce.”
“That’s correct.”
“Well, as long as you’re feeling like I’m not a burden to you, then I would love to dine with you, Ella.”
“We can eat in the dining room. I’ll bring you a plate.”
He nodded and turned, slowly making his way to the table.
As she plated the chicken and some vegetables, her thoughts returned to Joe. It was so like him to put his needs ahead of everyone else’s, and his selfishness drove her crazy. He knew she liked her peace and quiet and preferred being alone. He didn’t care, though, dumping off random men he had recruited at the house until he could find a place for them. Every time she laid eyes on him, her heart hurt for what had been, and what should have been. They had been in love, and he had thrown it all away, casting her aside when she’d been at her most vulnerable. She often wondered if he even realized he had done it, or if, in his eyes, the relationship had just fizzled out.
She carried the food to the living room, set Zach’s plate down in front of him, and then took the chair across from him.
He lifted the paper napkin from the table and unfolded it, placing it on his lap as if he ate in the finest restaurant in town instead of private dining room. He then picked up his knife and fork and pushed them around the plate a little bit, as if to figure out what food had been placed where. Next, he cut a small piece of chicken and brought the fork up to his mouth, but stopped.
“You aren’t trying to poison me, are you?” A small grin played on his lips.
She smiled despite herself. Had she been that awful that her poisoning him actually crossed his mind?
“No, I’m not trying to poison you, I promise. I just want to feed you.”
He nodded, and brought the piece of chicken to his lips, chewing quietly and with his mouth closed.
She had to admit, it felt nice having someone with manners in the house. The last guy had been a slob without any etiquette. His southern accent had been thick, as well, making her think of the white, trailer trash stereotype some comedies had been based on.
When she’d called him on his manners, he had started to try to do nice things for her, like fold her laundry and put it in her room. He’d startled her, and she’d shot him. Thankfully, she hadn’t killed him. At least it got him out of her hair more quickly than originally planned.
“Aren’t you going to eat? The chicken is delicious, by the way. I think I detect a little bit of brown sugar in the sauce. Am I right?”
Zach’s voice brought her back to the present. She shook her head and cut into her own chicken breast. “I’m not sure what’s in the sauce. I just poured it out of the bottle.”
“Really? It tastes homemade.”
They ate in silence for a long stretch.
“This is a large house. Based on my exploration, I’m guessing around five-thousand square feet?”
She nodded; not that he’d notice it. “Probably. It’s five bedrooms, four baths.”
“Granite or marble in the kitchen?”
She’d glanced over his shoulder into the kitchen, just to double check before answering. “Marble.”
“It seems there are two air conditioning systems, as well. One for the side of the house where your bedroom is, and one for the other side.”
She set down her utensils and stared at him. “Yes, that’s correct. Why would you even consider that, though?”
He grinned, a sly smile that showed just a hint of his white teeth. “I can feel the difference in the air from one side of the house to the next, from one room to the other.”
Had his other senses been heighted because of his blindness?
“How did you become blind?” The question blurted from her lips before she could bite it back.
He set down his fork and wiped his mouth, his plate clean. “Normally, I wouldn’t discuss such things, but since you work within Joe’s organization, I will.”
She stared at him curiously, catching her own reflection in his glasses.
“I was on special assignment with my unit in the jungles of Guatemala. A building exploded, and it seems all of us were affected in different ways.”
“Such as?”
He folded the napkin and set it next to the plate. “I suppose you could say we all ended up with different sets of exceptional skills, abilities that most people don’t have.”
Strange and curious, but not surprising, as she knew what the government and the military could be capable of. She tilted her head, wondering what his expertise could be. Yes, his blindness didn’t seem to make much of a difference in him getting around, but being blind definitely seemed like more of a hindrance than a special skill.
“I’m not following you. How does being blind translate into an exceptional ability?”
He grinned at her again, a disarming smile full of charm, and her own lips turned up in response.
“You’re very forthright and curious, aren’t you, Ella?”
Her cheeks warmed at his response. When she found herself interested in something—or in this case, someone—she did tend to ask questions, giving no regard for personal boundaries. Apparently, Zach didn’t want to discuss these special abilities he’d received after the explosion.
“My apologies. I’m sorry for being so nosey.”
“No apology necessary. I’ll always ben honest with you, and for me, sharing my strange make-up with you at this point in the relationship would be like us jumping into bed and fucking each other senseless. The trust isn’t there for either one of those things to happen. I’m sure in due time it will be, but for now, let’s just get to know each other a little bit better, shall we?”
She nodded, surprised by his bluntness, and his analogy.
“Of -of course,” she whispered.
Standing, she gathered their plates and stepped over Savannah as she went into the kitchen. Zach followed her and laid his hand on her shoulder as she placed the dishes in the sink.
“Dinner was wonderful. Thank you, Ella. Please, let me do the dishes.”
“It’s okay, I can—”
“No, Ella. I insist.”
She moved out from under his touch and placed the dishtowel in his hand. As she left the kitchen, she turned and stopped, watching him. His wide shoulders rolled under his crisp, white button-down shirt as he washed the plates. Even his jeans had creases in them, and she recognized his boots as Col Hann’s. He looked as if he’d just stepped out of a fashion magazine.
“Are you enjoying the view, Ella?”
She startled, and turned and hurried down the hall, wondering how he’d known she watched him.
Chapter 6
Zach woke the next morning to Savannah nuzzling his hand, disoriented in his new surroundings despite it being his third day at the house. That tended to be the hard thing about moving to a new place—he had to relearn layouts, scents, and sounds all over again. He’d spent a long time in that shithole apartment in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and had gotten used to the smell of mold and mildew, the sounds of cars and trucks passing by his front door, and the thuds and noises from his neighbors as they went about their daily activities. Moving from there to the cabin in Flagstaff, and then to here, had his senses in a tizzy.
He sat up and placed his elbows on his thighs, his face in his hands. He concentrated on the layout of the room as he remembered it, wishing he could focus on a big cup of coffee instead. He hadn’t slept well. The neighbor had rolled out their garbage cans at three in the morning, and a dog in the distance hadn’t seemed to be very happy about being left outside for the night. He’d also heard a cat hissing at something, and so had Savannah. That had gotten her all riled up as she was terrified of cats. She may be one hell of a guide dog—calm, cool and collected—but a tangle with a cat last year now had her acting like a T-Rex chased her every time she heard one or they came across one.
He stood and went to the sliding glass door to let Savannah out. He’d found the door in his exploration before heading to bed the night before. After going over the backyard and house floor plan in his head, he’d felt confident that if she used the door, she’d be safe in the backyard. He found it nice that he didn’t have to make his way through the house to take her out to the yard. However, he made a mental note to go look for the dog shit later.
He left the door open and then fell to the floor, feeling around to make sure his memory had been correct. It had been. He had plenty of room to practice his morning routine of three sets of fifty push-ups, fifty sit-ups, and fifty squats. He may be blind, but he’d be damned before he let his strong, lithe military physique go. The cool morning air invigorated him, as did the smell of fresh-cut grass. The mower noise, he could do without, but he couldn’t have one without the other.
After completing the workout, he headed to the bathroom breathing hard and sweating. When he reached the sink, he closed his eyes, preparing himself for the part of the day he loved the most, and also hated the worst.
He splashed water on his face, then pulled a towel from the rack and dried it. Placing his hands on the countertop, he got ready for the onslaught of images he would see once he opened his eyes.
Taking a deep breath, he looked at the mirror.
A gun. A living room. A woman with long, dark hair. Savannah swimming in a pool. The same woman, laughing. A computer. Long, slender fingers flying over a keyboard. A coffee machine.
