Unforgettable Heroes II Boxed Set

by Elizabeth Bevarly

  Brandt Sherrod is stalking me.

  She marched over to him, and his gaze followed her. They watched each other in the mirror for a few seconds.

  Though it felt like days.

  She grabbed the raised back of the barstool and turned it, sitting down, not breaking eye contact. Bonnie shook her head. “You’re going to stop this.”

  One side of that perfect mouth turned up. “Stop what?”

  Bonnie snorted. “Following me.” Her attention strayed to the beer glass in front of him. It was nearly full.

  “Once again, I was here first.” He turned to her. Tonight he wore a knit shirt with blue jeans. The more casual look was just as appealing as his more formal daytime attire. “You seem to be following me.”

  “Come on. I don’t hardly believe you and I just happen to be at the same place at the same time.”

  “It does seem like an awful big coincidence.”

  “I don’t believe in coincidences.”

  Brandt’s gaze turned away from her toward the bartender who stood in front of them. He nodded to the young woman who turned her back and in a minute, placed a margarita on the rocks in front of Bonnie.

  “Me neither. That comes from working in stealth operations. They create situations which appear to be coincidental but are actually opportunities.”

  “Who are they?”

  He smiled again, but this time the amusement, which had lit his eyes, was gone. “The people I work for.”

  “The government,” Bonnie supplied.

  Brandt shrugged. “Kinda sorta.”

  “What kind of answer is that? The CIA, right? That’s why all the secrecy and your spy attitude.”

  Brandt’s gaze flicked around before coming to rest on her. “No. Not the CIA. I told you, I’m a ninja.”

  “Yeah, and you’re about two centuries past your prime. Also in the wrong country and culture, not to mention ethnicity.”

  “It’s the quality that’s the descriptor, not the context.” He glanced at the drink. “It was a margarita, right?” His eyes went up to the mirror, and Bonnie followed it and noticed a perfect view of their table from his vantage point.

  “Prove it to me that you’re a ninja.”

  A speculative expression settled on his face.

  The television closest to them showed the Kentucky governor in his office in Frankfort. The closed caption flashed across the bottom of the screen about the commonwealth budget. On a shelf behind him was an autographed basketball in a Lucite cube. The would-be governor’s passion for the game had been the main reason her ex-husband had voted for the man. Bonnie shook her head in derision at the memory.

  “What are you thinking?” Brandt asked.

  She gestured toward the television. “My ex voted for him because he was a forward for UK the year they got the national championship.”

  Brandt watched the television for a minute. “You think the basketball is from his championship year?”

  “I’m almost sure of it.”

  Brandt squinted at the screen, and a lecherous grin spread across his lips.

  “Don’t tell me you bow to the basketball god too.” Bonnie rolled her eyes. Men and their silly pastimes. “It’s sad all of the energy and money you boys spend caring that a big ball goes through a metal ring.”

  “Everything we boys spend our time and energy on is more than sad. It’s absurd.”

  “So, proof,” Bonnie said returning to their earlier topic.

  He held up his hands in surrender.

  “Have you ever killed anyone?”

  He held her gaze steadily, not a flicker of anything. “Nothing I do is available for barroom bragging.”

  “What a shame.” Bonnie looked at the glass in front of her. With her index finger, she wiped the condensation off the side up to the rim where she swiped it and put the digit in her mouth. “How are you supposed to impress a woman if you can’t tell her of your violent exploits in an effort to rid the world of the bad guys?”

  “Does the woman want to be impressed?”

  Bonnie turned her attention to Brandt. His eyes watched her mouth, and she realized she was sucking on her finger. She lowered her hand and folded it in the other one in her lap. The skin burned on her face from embarrassment. “Well, not me, of course. I’m not…you know…” She pulled her eyes away from his dark mesmerizing ones to her margarita.

  It was empty save for the ice cubes.

  “You’re not what?”

  “I’m not into…the dating scene and all that. I have kids and a…a mortgage.”

  “And a husband.”

  “Well, no. I don’t have one of those anymore.”

  “He’s the ex who votes for basketball players.”

  “Yes.”

  The bartender came by and replaced her empty glass with a full one. “No, thank you. I’ve had my limit.”

  The bartender shrugged indifferently. “It’s already made, honey. Don’t drink it if you don’t want it.”

  “Oh. Okay. Well, I don’t want to pay for it. I didn’t order it.”

  “No. You didn’t order it,” she agreed.

  Bonnie looked at Brandt angrily. “Are you trying to get me drunk?”

  He shook his head. “I didn’t order it.” He arched an eyebrow and his eyes shifted upward, and Bonnie looked in the mirror above their heads. Her friends’ faces turned toward the bar, in open interest.

  The traitors.

  Bonnie glared at their treacherous reflections. “I’ve a good a mind to leave with you. That would show them.”

  “Yeah. That would show them,” Brandt repeated with a grin.

  “And then when you kill me and leave me in a ditch somewhere, won’t they be sorry.”

  His smile fell a bit. “Ouch. That hurts. You think I’m Ted Bundy.”

  “I’m not really sure who you are. But it would serve them right.”

  “Except in your self-righteous fantasy, you’d be dead, and your children are deprived of their mother.”

  “One of those children would probably be happy about it. My daughter hates me.”

  “Oh? How old is she?”

  “Fifteen.” Bonnie turned and slid off the chair, holding onto the edge of the bar as she did so. “It’s this guy. He’s corrupting her.” She watched her shoes walk toward Rita and crew.

  When she arrived at the table, she pulled at her purse strap hanging over the back of the chair. “Good night. The ninja is taking me home. If you never see me again, just know it’s your fault.”

  Rita and Sheila’s mouths fell open. Alicia sniggered. Without looking back to see if Brandt was following her, she walked toward the door, at least where she thought the door was. Once outside, she breathed in the cool air and patted her flushed face. The door opened behind her, and then Brandt was at her side.

  “May I?” he asked.

  She closed one eye because there was two of him. “May you what?”

  “Take your arm to walk you to the car.”

  “Are you going to give it back?”

  He chuckled. “Yes.” Warmth at her elbow alerted Bonnie that Brandt had placed his hand there, and he tugged her forward. “You’re funny. It’s a side of you I haven’t seen before.”

  He led her to a sleek sports car, black as an ace of spades.

  Bonnie blinked at it. “Does this car have seatbelts?”

  “Yes. One for each of us.” The headlights flashed briefly, and the interior light came on. Brandt opened the passenger side door, and Bonnie hesitated.

  “I don’t know. This looks too fast.” She grasped his forearm and squeezed it. The soft material slid over his flesh, and she wondered briefly if he had hairy arms and a hairy chest and back like Guy did. Guy had been bad about speeding when they’d dated.

  Not that this was a date or anything.

  “It’s not moving. Zero miles per hour.”

  “No. I mean, when you drive it.” She bit her lip anxiously. “You shouldn’t break the speed limit, but you
probably can’t help it in this car.”

  “I can help it. I’m a very safe driver. No speeding tickets.”

  “Not ever?” Bonnie looked at him suspiciously.

  “Not in about ten years or so, but I don’t want you jinxing it.”

  “Yeah. You should knock on some wood. Any trees around?” Bonnie looked around the parking lot. No trees in sight. Wasn’t there a song about that? Her attention returned to the car—a two-seater, of course.

  “So, tell me about your daughter who hates you, and the boy corrupting her.”

  Bonnie sighed, as an image of Kayla swam across her mind. “He’s seventeen. An older boy who has a car.” Not like this one, but still.

  Brandt took her hand and guided her to sit in the passenger seat. The door closed with only a soft snick. Bonnie leaned back on the leather seats sighing. Oh. Nice.

  In a moment Brandt was beside her, and the engine started up. Bonnie looked at the console separating them. “What do those buttons do?”

  “Ejector seats. Don’t press them.”

  Bonnie shot him a startled glance.

  “I’m kidding. It’s really the missile launcher which pops out of the rear of the car and launches at anyone chasing me.”

  Onto his joke now, Bonnie nodded. “It explains why you haven’t gotten any speeding tickets lately.”

  “Exactly.” He paused for a beat. “You didn’t eat inside. Would you like to stop somewhere and get something?”

  “Can we get it to go? I’d like to go home.”

  “Where do you live?”

  “You’re a spy. I thought you would know these things.”

  “I’m a ninja. Not a spy. I sneak into places and back out. I don’t find out where retirement benefits ladies live. It’s an invasion of privacy.”

  “What about the privacy of the places you sneak into?”

  He crooked his head in a shrug. “When it’s my job, it’s a different set of rules.”

  The car was idling at the edge of the parking lot. Bonnie gave him her address, and he put the car in gear and pulled into the street. The car rode smooth.

  “This doesn’t seem the kind of car you could sneak around in.”

  “No. It doesn’t blend well, does it?”

  “So, what are you working on with your ninja job?”

  “I’m waiting on an assignment, but my phone is shut down because of a security issue, so I don’t expect to hear anything before tomorrow.”

  “Where’s your phone?”

  Brandt reached inside of his jacket and handed it to her.

  She looked at the screen. “You’ve got it locked.” She touched the screen and held it up to his face.

  “Hey, what’re you doing?”

  “Face recognition, right?”

  The phone didn’t unlock. “What’s the code?”

  He snickered and shook his head. Reaching for it, he held it in his hand then handed it back to her.

  She hadn’t seen him tap the screen at all. “How’d you do that?”

  “Embedded microchip.”

  “Embedded where?”

  He arched an eyebrow at her but didn’t respond. She dismissed his secrecy and began playing with the phone. “You can make calls on it.”

  “It is a phone.”

  “Where’s the ninja icon?”

  “You don’t really expect me to tell you, do you?”

  Bonnie surfed through the pictures on the phone, pressing each one and not getting anywhere. She looked in settings and went through his ringtones. Nothing ninja. It had to be something convenient, but unexpected. What would that be? She went to the second screen and tried the icons there. Nope. “Is it voice recognition? A secret word you have to say?”

  He didn’t say anything.

  “I suppose not because then someone could hear you.” She touched a blank part of the screen then tried another blank part. The screen blinked then letters appeared.

  Hello HKAVMJ

  “Oh. I think I found it. What does HKAVMJ mean?”

  Brandt held out his hand. “All right. You’ve lost phone privileges. Let me have it back.”

  Bonnie grinned and placed it in his hand. “I impress myself. I found your secret message screen. All of my skills I’ve learned as the mother of a teenager have come in handy.”

  She settled back into the cozy seat and closed her eyes with a satisfied expression on her face.

  “What kind of food are you in the mood for?”

  Bonnie named a fast food place, which had good salads. Brandt went through the drive-through, and she noticed he didn’t order anything for himself.

  In a few minutes Brandt maneuvered the car into a sharp, but smooth, turn and cut the engine. Bonnie opened her eyes and saw he had parked in her driveway. A pang of uneasiness rose in her chest.

  “Brandt?”

  “Yes?”

  “My children are not home.”

  The silence in the car thrummed in her ears.

  “I’m telling you this because it’s the only reason I’d allow you to drive me home. Do you understand?”

  “Yes. You don’t want me to meet your kids.”

  “Exactly. Are you okay with that?”

  “Sure. You still think I might kill you and throw you in a ditch somewhere, and you want to keep your kids safe. Even though your thinking is a little skewed. After all, if I’m going to murder you, why would I abide by your wishes to keep away from your house when your children are home?”

  “I was joking about you killing me. If I was really concerned about it, I wouldn’t have left the restaurant with you.”

  “What makes you think you’re safe with me?”

  “Because Louise Tackett thinks you’re a good boy.”

  She depressed the handle on her car door, but before she could step out of the car, Brandt was there on the outside taking the to-go bag from her fingers and lifting her hand to help her out. Bonnie liked the feel of his hand on hers. It had been a long time since she’d held hands with anyone but her kids. When they arrived at the door, she loosened her fingers from his regretfully. Fishing into her purse, she pulled out her key ring and unlocked the door. Pushing it open, she flicked the switch, and the foyer light came on.

  She turned to Brandt and looked up in his face. Her heart beat hard in her chest. I’m alone in my house with a man. “Thanks for the ride.” She gestured for the food bag he still held, and he surrendered it to her.

  “You’re welcome.” He didn’t move toward the door.

  “I’m just going to sit on the couch and watch an old movie. Very boring.”

  “It sounds like it.”

  “Want to stay?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Chapter Seven

  Bonnie rolled over in bed and groaned.

  Oh, my head.

  She pushed in on her hair with her hands. Hoisting herself on an elbow, Bonnie sat up. The sheet fell down to her waist.

  Ooof! Where are my clothes?

  She looked toward her open closet door where the dress she had been wearing the night before hung. She’d changed into it at Rita’s insistence. They’d gone to the restaurant. She’d….

  Oh, no. Brandt!

  Brandt had been here last night.

  They’d settled on the couch. She’d found a classic movie, and they’d watched it. Then they’d watched another one.

  And nothing else had happened. Well, except she’d fallen asleep, and he’d nudged her awake. She’d shot off the couch and away from him, staring at him suspiciously. He stood and offered to help her to bed, but she’d laughed at him. And he’d laughed in response.

  “Yes. It is funny, isn’t it? The ninja is going to tuck me in.”

  “One thing about you, Ms. Moore. You know how to toughen up a guy’s skin.”

  “Oh, call me Bonnie. After all, you’ve sat on my couch.”

  “Sure I can’t walk you to your room?” He bounced back on his heels, watching her as he did so.

  “I’
d like to think you’re propositioning me, but I’m forty-one, and you drive a Porsche.”

  “I’m also forty-one, and it feels like you’re insulting the Spyder.”

  “You have a name for your car?”

  “The company does. That’s the model name.”

  They stood there at the apex between the living room and the foyer. She’d taken off her shoes, and he seemed even taller when she looked up at him. There was a presence about him, a calm watchfulness, which tonight put her at ease. In her office, it made her nervous, but here he seemed less…what? Predatory. “It seems silly to be talking about this.”

  Brandt was closer now. He bent down and kissed her forehead then walked to the door. “Good night, Bonnie.”

  Good night, Bonnie.

  That had been the climax and conclusion of their night together.

  ****

  Bonnie walked toward her office later that morning waiting for her friends to pounce on her about Brandt. She’d gotten no calls last night. No texts. She was irritated and amused at the same time. They hadn’t checked to see if she was okay, but it was probably because they hadn’t wanted to bother her if she and Brandt were having fun.

  Whatever fun was, to a woman her age.

  Sitting on the couch eating a salad and watching a movie, apparently.

  From her peripheral vision, she saw movement.

  Alicia barreled across the room, then Rita joined her. They were making a beeline for Bonnie, and from their trajectory, it looked like the three of them would intersect about the time they reached Bonnie’s door. Alicia had her cell phone to her ear, and Bonnie could read the words on her lips.

  She’s here.

  Bonnie would bet the person on the other line was Sheila. Opening her office door, she hoped she could at least get her purse put away before the Inquisition descended upon her. She closed her desk drawer as Rita and Alicia filled the doorway.

  “Well?” Alicia demanded shutting the door to contain the gossip.

  Bonnie shook her head. “No.”

  Their excited expressions fell in unison.

  Rita hurried across the room and gripped the edge of the desk. “Ah, come on, Bonnie. Please tell us what happened. We saw you two drive away in his Porsche.” Her eyes sparkled. “His Porsche!”