Hold Me

by Susan Mallery

  “Thanks. It never goes away, but I’m dealing with it. Having Kipling around helps. I mean he’s totally annoying, but I love him. He’s the only family I have left. I’d be lost without him.”

  “It’s nice to have family around,” Destiny murmured, thinking of Starr. The girl was only fifteen and pretty much alone in the world. It was good they were going to have the summer to get to know each other.

  A couple of guys walked into the bakery. They were tall and broad-shouldered and wearing shorts and T-shirts. They looked familiar, too, although she couldn’t place them. Was everyone in this town related?

  “Loser buys,” the dark-haired guy said. “That means you.”

  “Nice, Sam. I am so kicking your ass on the court today.”

  “See you tomorrow,” Destiny told Shelby and headed for the door.

  She passed by the two men. They were both wearing wedding rings. Not that she’d been attracted to either of them. She was strong and powerful and never sucked in by something as temporal as sex. She had goals and rules and a plan. And if all that failed, she had Danish.

  She started back for the house. There were more people out on the street now, and the sun was rising in the sky. She smiled and greeted those who waved at her. She liked the friendliness of the town.

  At the corner, she checked before crossing. As she glanced to her left, she saw a man jogging away from her. His stride was slightly uneven, and his pace slower than most. As the information registered in her brain, she recognized Kipling.

  There were scars on his legs and a hitch to his gait. She thought about all that he would have gone through after his accident and wondered about the courage it took to recover from something like that. No, not recover. Thrive. It spoke highly of his character.

  She crossed the street and made her way to her rental house. Once inside, she left the Danish on the table and hurried into her bedroom. After closing the door, she got her guitar out of the closet and sat on the edge of the bed.

  Words tumbled around a half-formed melody. Aware of Starr sleeping on the other side of the hall, she strummed quietly, pausing every now and then to write down lyrics or notes.

  Too many ways and too many days. Testing and hurting, I see you alone. Too many nights of wanting it right and I’m walking...

  She pressed her palm against the strings as she struggled with the line.

  The song beckoned. The need to get lost in finding the right combination of notes and syllables grew. Of meaning and phrases. She glanced at her small bedside clock. She had to be at work, and she didn’t want Starr to hear her. Better to start her morning.

  She drew in a breath, then compromised by setting her phone timer for forty-five minutes. When the beeper sounded, she forced herself to put away her guitar and shoved the worn notebook into her nightstand.

  She had a real job, she reminded herself. A regular life. The rest of it—the songs and the music—were just play. She made deliberate choices for a reason. Staying in control was all that kept her safe. Vigilance, she reminded herself. Determination. She was stronger than her biology. She always would be.

  CHAPTER THREE

  KIPLING SET UP the new computers on the desks that had been delivered the previous week. He sorted the packing material into recycle and trash piles, then carried it all out back. When he returned, Destiny was walking into the HERO office.

  “Right on time,” he said, taking in the jeans, boots and short-sleeved T-shirt she wore. She’d pulled her long hair back into a ponytail.

  From what he could tell, she wasn’t wearing makeup. She used a small backpack for a handbag and certainly didn’t dress to impress anyone. She wasn’t the kind of woman who kept a man waiting “just five more minutes” while she primped. All pluses in his book.

  “I see the computers arrived,” she said by way of greeting. “I’ll let my tech guys know. They’ll be here in a couple of days to load and test the software. While they’re doing that, I’ll be mapping the terrain. Then we’ll get started on training you and your volunteers on STORMS.”

  “Good morning,” he said. “How was your evening?”

  She raised her eyebrows. “I didn’t take you for someone who lived for social niceties, but sure. I can do that. Good morning, Kipling. Did you have a nice jog this morning?”

  “How did you know I was out jogging?”

  She shifted her weight from foot to foot. “I went out to get some breakfast and saw you. Going the other way. I would have called out, but you were too far away. I wasn’t spying or anything.”

  “I never thought you were.”

  She’d been watching him. A year ago, he would have read that as a good sign. One of interest. Today he was less sure. She could have been put off by the scars or his limp. Although she didn’t strike him as overly concerned about that sort of thing.

  “It’s the small-town thing,” she continued. “You can’t really escape anyone. Not that you were trying to. Or anything.”

  She dropped her backpack on the desk and crossed her arms over her chest.

  “Feeling awkward?” he asked.

  “Very.”

  “Want to move on to another topic?”

  “More than you know.”

  He grinned. “Then let’s get down to business.”

  Unlike the mayor’s office, there was no comfortable sofa-and-chair arrangement. In the command center, conversations took place around a metal table with folding chairs. He and Destiny settled at one corner. She pulled a laptop out of her backpack and booted it. While it did its thing, she handed over a couple sheets of paper.

  “This is the preliminary schedule,” she told him. “Mapping and testing will take about a month. We’ll have multiple practice rescues that will all go badly. For those, we want as small a group participating as possible. So no one gets discouraged.”

  “You’re assuming the worst.”

  “I’ve done this before,” she told him. “Man and machine don’t work well together without training. Once we get the kinks worked out, we’ll broaden the practice areas and bring in more people.”

  She was sitting close enough that they could both see her laptop screen, which also meant he could inhale the scent of her shampoo. Something floral, he thought. A bit of a surprise considering how she didn’t seem all that interested in being girly with her clothes or accessories.

  Unexpected nuances. Everyone had them. They were some of his favorite things to discover. What else was she hiding? Was there a passionate woman behind the “all business” exterior? Was she quiet in bed, or a screamer? He was open to either.

  She turned to get something out of her backpack. As she moved, her ponytail swung toward him. Dark red hair curled slightly at the ends, begging to be touched. He knew the strands would be soft. For a second he allowed himself the fantasy of her pulling out the band holding her hair in place and shaking her head. Like in one of those cheesy perfume commercials. Maybe she would crook her finger at him.

  Unlikely, he thought, holding in a grin at the image. Destiny didn’t strike him as the sultry type. He would guess she was more practical than seductive. Again, not a problem for him.

  She set more papers on the desk and scanned the top sheet. “You’re going to be hiring a second-in-command?”

  He forced his attention back to the job at hand. “Yes. I have interviews lined up for the next few weeks. There will also be a couple of paid staffers.” She made a couple of notes as he spoke. “The volunteer force is impressive. Mostly firefighters and cops, along with a few locals who—”

  She turned to him. “Sam Ridge.”

  “You know him?”

  “What? No. I saw him today. At the bakery. He and another guy came in as I left. The one said Sam. I’ve been trying to figure out who he is.” She leaned toward him. “He’s a former NFL kicker. There are a lot of former pro athletes in this town. You, the football guys and some cyclist, too... There was an article about him on the Fool’s Gold website. You’re in good company
. Is that why you wanted to move here?”

  “Not exactly.”

  Her mouth curved up in a smile. “Let me guess. It has something to do with Mayor Marsha.”

  “As a matter of fact, it does. She came to see me in New Zealand after my crash and offered me the job.”

  He hadn’t cared about the job, he thought grimly, remembering the helplessness he’d felt trapped in a hospital bed, not sure if he would ever walk again. He’d cared about his sister and what she was going through. People said love was a big deal. He’d never thought that. Love didn’t get the job done. When Shelby had been dodging their father’s fists, Kipling’s love hadn’t been able to do a damn thing to save her.

  Then Mayor Marsha had shown up and offered a miracle. He didn’t know how the old lady had known what was happening, but she had. As promised, she’d protected Shelby and in return, he’d moved to Fool’s Gold.

  He knew he’d gotten the best end of the deal. Shelby was safe, and he had a place to start over. A place where he was simply Kipling Gilmore. Not world famous G-Force. Which probably sounded good enough to most people. He was healed, and he could settle down. What few realized was after years of being a god, sometimes it was hard to settle.

  “That’s a long way to go to hire someone,” Destiny said.

  “I’m worth it.”

  Destiny laughed. “Okay, I’ll pretend to agree with you. Was she on vacation?”

  “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I never much thought about it. I was pretty banged up and out of it. There were things to deal with.”

  He still remembered Mayor Marsha standing beside his hospital bed and telling him she could take care of his sister. He hadn’t believed her, but she’d come through. His old man had been thrown in jail, Shelby had been safe and when he’d healed enough, he’d shown up to take the offered job.

  “And?” Destiny prompted.

  “She made an irresistible offer,” he said, not wanting to share the truth with anyone. More to protect Shelby than himself. “And here I am.”

  “You’re uniquely qualified for the job. You know your way around mountains.”

  “Less on foot than on skis.”

  “Does that bother you?”

  He thought about what it had been like to fly down the snow. To go faster than anyone. He thought about the feel of the wind, the sounds, the fact that for those few seconds, it was only him and the impossible odds against winning.

  “Sometimes,” he admitted.

  “Giving up the dream?” she asked.

  He nodded. “It was going to happen eventually, but I wanted it on my terms.”

  “But what you did was dangerous. You could have hurt yourself.”

  He looked into her green eyes. “I did hurt myself.”

  “I mean it could have been worse. Was it worth it?”

  He didn’t have to consider his answer. He knew what it was like to defy gravity. He’d been the best. “Absolutely.”

  “I’ll never understand that. Why would you deliberately take that kind of risk?”

  “For the reward.”

  Her nose wrinkled. “A trophy and some arm candy?”

  “The thrill of winning. Doing what hadn’t been done before.”

  “So you break a record. Someone else will break yours. The glory is fleeting.”

  “The mountain is forever and when I skied, I was part of it.”

  * * *

  AS KIPLING SPOKE, he seemed to be looking past her, to something she couldn’t see. Destiny couldn’t understand what he was talking about. Not the meaning behind the words, anyway. Why would someone willingly put themselves in harm’s way? Of course she’d often asked her parents why they were willing to risk their marriage and family for a few nights of passion, and they hadn’t been able to explain that, either.

  She supposed her inability to understand was more about her than them. She wasn’t looking for the thrill in any form, while it seemed that nearly everyone else sought it no matter the cost. But although she could usually dismiss her parents’ choices with a shrug, she found herself wanting to know more about Kipling’s. To understand what had driven him to take the risks.

  “So you’re part of the mountain?” she asked. “A part of something larger than yourself?”

  He gave her one of his easy smiles. “Something like that.”

  “That one I get,” she told him. “When I’m alone in nature, there’s a peace. A connection. But you can feel that sitting still.”

  “You can,” he corrected. “I do it with speed.”

  Her gaze locked with his. In that moment, the world seemed to shrink just a little bit. Or maybe go out of focus was more accurate. She could hear the beating of her heart and knew that she was breathing, but all that seemed separate from the act of looking into his dark blue eyes.

  They were sitting closer than she’d realized. Close enough that she was both uncomfortable and a little bit jumpy. Leaning forward seemed the most logical thing to do, although she couldn’t for the life of her say why. Lean forward and then what?

  Rather than give in, she drew back slightly and searched for a neutral topic. “I met your sister this morning.”

  “You went with the breakfast of champions, then?”

  “I bought Danish for my sister.”

  One brow rose. “Now you’re lying.”

  “Fine. I bought them for myself, but I left most of them with her.” She shuffled the papers in front of her. “It’s nice that Shelby could move to Fool’s Gold, too. Have you always been close?”

  “Mostly. I traveled a lot, and that made it harder, but we’ve stayed in touch. You know how it goes.”

  “Not really,” she said before she could stop herself. “My parents had me nine months after they got married. They split up when I was five. While they were apart, my dad married someone else and had a baby with her. My mom got pregnant by some other guy, then my parents got back together. It was confusing.”

  There was so much more. Other marriages, separations and divorces. Lacey and Jimmy Don believed in living large. Destiny had been passed around to relatives and friends. She’d spent time on the road with her parents. Finally, Grandma Nell had stepped in, taking her away from all the craziness. From the first moment Destiny had set foot in the small house in the mountains, she knew she was where she belonged.

  “I don’t really know Starr,” she admitted. “We have the same father, but until two weeks ago, I’d never met her.”

  “That’s tough. How are things going?”

  “Okay, I guess. I hope they are. She doesn’t talk much, and I’ve never been responsible for a teenager before. She seems excited about the summer camp Mayor Marsha told me about. I think it would help if she got out and could make some friends.” She hesitated. “I don’t know what she wants. From me or her life. When I was her age... Let’s just say it was different.”

  “Different how?”

  Before she could figure out how to answer, a familiar low rumble sounded overhead. It grew louder, then quieter.

  “I can’t believe it,” she said with a grin. “What is it about your gender? Can’t you just walk into a room? Do you always have to make an entrance?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  She pointed to the ceiling. “That noise you just heard? It’s Miles, buzzing the town on his way to the airport. Because he thinks it’s cool. My helicopter pilot is one of the best, but he has the emotional maturity of a toddler. Come on. You’ll want to meet him, and I have to warn him that he’s not to make trouble while he’s here.”

  “Does he usually?”

  She thought about the string of broken hearts and shattered dreams Miles left in his wake. Sort of the reverse of bread crumbs. Because once Miles walked away, he never came back.

  “Always. He says it’s part of his charm.”

  “What do you say?” Kipling asked.

  “That he needs a good smack upside the head.”

  * * *


  THEY TOOK HIS JEEP out to the small airport. Sure enough, a helicopter sat on the tarmac. As Kipling came to a stop, a guy climbed out and waved. Destiny scrambled out of the Jeep and raced toward him.

  Kipling saw the other man, Miles, was about his height with dark hair. He wore an LA Stallions baseball cap. Destiny launched herself at him, and the man caught her in a tight embrace.

  For a second Kipling wondered if he was going to have some competition for his planned short-term affair with the sexy redhead. Or if he’d misread the fact that she was single. But as he watched, the hug, while friendly, never progressed past affectionate. There was no trace of sexual tension between them. No lingering chemistry.

  Miles released her, and she stepped back. They were talking animatedly. The man shook his head stubbornly, and Destiny slugged him in the arm.

  Okay then, Kipling thought with a grin. More like brother and sister, not lovers. Excellent news. He’d been looking forward to seducing Destiny but wouldn’t go there if she belonged to someone else.

  They approached. Destiny rolled her eyes. “Kipling Gilmore, meet Miles Thomas. He’s a good pilot and a complete dog when it comes to women. Please tell him to go easy here in town.”

  The two men shook hands.

  “It’s a family place with a lot of women in power,” Kipling warned him. “Our police chief has sons in high school and college. She’s not one to be reasoned with.”

  Miles winked at Destiny. “Then I won’t ask her out. Sweet Destiny, you’re going to make this nice man think I’m a total bastard.”

  “Yes, I know. Like I said. Brilliant in the sky. A jerk in his love life. I can’t tell you how many sobbing phone calls I’ve had to deal with over the past couple of years.”

  “I’ve never made a phone cry,” Miles told her.

  “Very funny. Don’t make me hit you again.”

  Miles rubbed his arm. “You do pack a punch. More of Grandma Nell’s work, I presume.”

  “Yes, and had she met you, she would have castrated you, just like she did the hogs.”