WindSwept Narrows: #23 Molly & Natasha

by Diroll-Nichols, Karen

  “It’s okay, the names might turn up something,” Tasha went to her and hugged. “I’m going to go and let you relax.”

  “Why did you confront him?” Jonathon asked, the sound harsh and angry.

  “Because she used it to make herself the target,” Dell said without hesitation, his gaze locked on the suddenly evasive brown eyes. “Now they see her as a problem and will turn to deal with that first, at least that’s what I’d do in their place. They have someone watching Molly, so they aren’t worried about losing her. But Tasha…she just upped the ante for them.”

  Tasha cleared her throat but the lump was still there. She patted Molly on the arm and backed up with a smile that was a little stilted.

  “I think I’ll be going now. I have what I need in my apartment and I want to take a look at this list.”

  “It includes the employees, Tasha,” Molly said cautiously. “People who worked there and knew without a doubt what was going on. They were strongly discouraged from socializing with people in town. Just like we were supposed to be locked down and kept away from them. They didn’t want questions. I think it’s why, whatever supplies we asked for, they appeared within the week…keep us busy and hidden.”

  “Then it’ll be a long search. I really want to try and find Harrison…” Tasha felt the hand settle on the back of her neck. “Time to go. G’night…”

  “Good night, Jon, I’ll be in touch,” Dell said politely, guiding Tasha back to the door. “Bye, Molly. Nice meeting you both.”

  Tasha offered a little backward wave before the cool air of the evening flowed around her. She glanced up, but the clouds had moved in from over the water and shrouded the stars, dim glows appearing now and then where they thinned.

  “I’m sorry,” she said when they came close to the large truck. She wasn’t sure how, but she managed to keep her head up, their eyes meeting as he opened the door for her and lifted her to the seat.

  He didn’t allow her to turn her knees to the inside and instead, slid them to one side so he was as close possible in the dress she wore.

  “Right now I don’t know how to express what I’m feeling, Tasha,” Dell began slowly, honestly. “I think this morning I had hopes of nothing more complex than chasing you around the ranch and all manner of undress until we’d each had our fill. Kind of adolescent, but…” he shrugged when she managed a little nervous laugh. “Are those feelings still there? Hell, yeah…maybe even more just because I can’t separate that girl from the one I just spent the last few hours with. The one with the strong urge to help a friend. The one who wants to solve a problem and a mystery and uses herself to help it along,” he exhaled steadily. “Do I like it? Hell, no. And I’d be lying even if I tried justifying my feelings. But I understand yours…and I understand your work and friendship strengths guide you and how the hell do I find fault with that?” He slid his hands along her thighs before taking her hands in his. “So…your apartment? And probably a bucket of coffee?”

  Dell wasn’t sure what to expect, but the sudden flow of tears was definitely not it.

  “Tasha…” her name groaned from his lips. He quickly pulled the Stetson free and tossed it to the seat before pulling her into his arms, letting her bury her face against his throat. “Honey…I don’t know what I did here…”

  She lifted her head, sniffed loudly and gripped the open edges of his shirt with a strong shake than he would have thought her capable of. Then she pulled until his mouth was within reach, the tastes of Tasha and tears mixing into a hot bundle.

  “Take me to my apartment. I need to print this and secure the disc and copy then we’re going to frolic the rest of the weekend at your house,” Tasha whispered against his mouth, one hand sliding down his chest.

  “The tears?” His hands framed her face, thumbs brushing over the semi-dried trails on each cheek.

  “Strange girl thing…wondering how I got so lucky to find a guy who talks…and doesn’t think I’m too strange…” Her hands came up and swiped over her cheeks. “Honest? I figured you’d yell at me…and be angry…”

  “And drop you off without looking back?” Dell kissed her nose. “Not gonna happen. More likely I’ll be on high alert as far as these idiots are concerned. Let’s get moving before the skies open up on us.”

  Tasha could only stare at the man striding around the front of the truck, sniffling softly and wondering who she should thank or give offerings to for the gift of Dell Russell. She found herself wondering if all girls questioned their luck when they fall for the right guy finally. She sighed and relaxed in the seat.

  “I should have called Cassidy,” she shifted slightly to face him. “Do you remember the way?” She smiled at the single arched brow he offered as an answer. “Okay…” she opened the little purse and pulled her phone free, scrolling through for the number she wanted. “Cassidy, I’ll be at the office Monday and lay out all the information I have. If you need me for anything, just let me…oh, Cassidy, I didn’t want to disturb your evening…more…”

  “Are you with Dell Russell?”

  “Yes…”

  “On speaker, please, Tasha,” Cassidy asked quietly.

  “Oh…alright…” She laid the phone on the dash after pressing the tiny button. “Cassidy Lawson…Dell is listening.”

  “Mr. Russell…my tail lost them,” she said after a deep, growling breath. “They were supposed to have kept them under watch.”

  “I see,” Dell said simply. “I’ll be with Tasha until Monday morning, Ms. Lawson.”

  “You don’t believe they’d make a move on me?” Tasha scoffed, looking from the phone to Dell, who continued driving in silence. “I know what I did, Cassidy. I distracted them and I’d do it again. Now they have something to think about and it’s not Molly.”

  “I’m not…” Cassidy exhaled in frustration. “I’m not good at waiting, either, Tasha. And I’m not…my disturbance at the development is no more so than it was that Molly was a target, to begin with,” Cassidy pushed the words out with only a hint of her anger. “We have to find out their motivation and stop them otherwise, she’ll never sleep and we’ll all end up a wreck. That said, you be damned careful. Good night.”

  Tasha stared at the phone and Dell turned the engine off outside the apartment complex. They’d been cleared through by the night guard when Tasha waved at him and Dell wove quietly among the lines to find a spot near where he knew her unit was located.

  “Well…” Tasha closed the phone and dropped it into her purse and then slid to the ground outside the truck. “That was interesting.”

  “Conflicted was the word I’d use,” Dell said, letting himself laugh despite the itch at the back of his neck. He did agree with Cassidy Parker-Lawson. To have it over and done with, they had to make the men move. One direction or another, but move.

  “So…tell me, marshal…” Tasha turned and walked backwards toward the elevator. She reached out with one hand and tucked a finger inside the band of his jeans. She gave him a little tug. “Should I change clothes…or you want to chase around a school marm? I think being ravished by a gun toting lawman…well…might be a tad exciting…”

  “If it’s just a tad exciting, I’m not working hard enough,” he told her with a laugh, his arm up and wrapped tightly around her waist, pulling her hard against him as they stumbled into the elevator.

  “There are cameras in here,” she squealed when his hands slid to her behind and pulled the fabric out of the way.

  It was abruptly dropped, his growl low and hungry when their mouths met.

  Dell thrust his tongue between her lips, sweeping in and taking the sweetness that seemed to envelope her at times. Somehow he managed to keep his senses alert when the elevator doors parted and they walked to her door, her thumb print releasing the lock for them to go inside. As much as he wanted her right there, again, he took her by the shoulders and pressed her against the door.

  Tasha opened her mouth only to close it with a little nod when he held up one fin
ger and put it in front of his lips. She was smart and knew what he was doing. She stayed in place while he did a quick walk through the apartment.

  “Get what you need done, Tasha, we’re not staying here tonight,” he took out his phone and stepped outside the apartment, using his foot to block the door. “Abe…I need a favor. Probably Monday morning I’ll get you access, but I need an apartment swept,” Dell listened and closed the phone a few minutes later. He’d call Cassidy first thing Monday morning, too.

  Tasha sat behind her desk, hands moving over the keys and screens popping up at her request. She sent each of the three lists to the printer, copied the files and emailed them to her work computer and a third copy sent to Cassidy’s computer. She recopied the files onto a CD and slipped that into her purse. She didn’t leave a copy on her home computer. Just in case. Then she pulled the disc out and broke it in two, making sure to scratch and bend the flimsy center until it was useless.

  She had the papers neatly in a file folder when she looked up to see Dell leaning against the door jamb watching her. She offered a smile and held up her folder.

  “All done. You sure you don’t want to stay here tonight?”

  He shook his head and crooked a finger at her. His fingers twined with hers, pulling her after him into the hall and toward the elevator.

  “You told me Molly had her apartment bugged. How can you be sure yours isn’t?”

  She blinked at him in surprise. “I don’t guess I would know.”

  “Then you’ll be at the ranch until this stuff is done. I know I can keep you safe there,” Dell informed her as if it were the simplest answer in the world. “I’ll have it checked tomorrow or Monday while you’re at work.”

  “I can get the computer department to look things over. They cross over with security because of…” Tasha shook her head. “They just do.”

  “Because of other problems with stalkers and things,” Dell filled in the blank as he guided the car through the night roads. “I talked to Jonathon while you were off costume hunting. Your boss is pretty smart and cares about her people. I’m just not sure how to get around it without full time guards on all entrances, at all times. And even then…” he shrugged. “You really have to make certain your people can’t be bought.”

  “I know. Cassidy knows, too…and everyone is real attentive and alert for a couple months after they’re forced into seminars of reminder,” Tasha held the folder on her lap, one hand up and touching the window by her head. “Then it’s life as usual…and people get caught up and forget…the delivery person is very convincing and finds someone they can get past.” She glanced over at him. “You and Jonathon seemed to get along.”

  “We’re both new to the whole process of the Narrows and we have girls in the middle of something neither one of us likes,” Dell answered honestly.

  “I should probably protest that…and I’m sorry it’s not my typical investigation, believe me. The most conflict I run into is people who fudged on their resumes and end up withdrawing their application. Molly didn’t lie about any of her credentials and she really didn’t lie about her name, since she has all the necessary documents,” Tasha shook her head. “I guess it’s a little situational ethics at times. How things our distant relatives did to screw up our lives…and how do you work that angle?”

  “I don’t know the principles well…but I know a lot of the people rotating in some of the outer rings who know them,” Dell pondered what he was trying to say for several minutes, the faint drop of rain breaking the silence now and then.

  “You know Cassidy and Mac now,” Tasha told him with a little smile. “I think I know what you’re…it’s almost impossible to find someone…anyone…who doesn’t have slight indiscretions in their past. That’s a given. And for the most part, we don’t expect total disclosure about personal choices that you now regret. It’s such a fine thread…Molly was in a place she never asked for. Sold to this place like…like a bag of vegetables. She was twelve when she made the plan and escaped…and helped the others get free. I know how she feels, Dell. She blames herself because others changed their minds and chose to stay. Should she have left the facility intact? Should she have left everything as it was and just got herself free? Would she be the person she is today if all that hadn’t happened to her?”

  His hand slid over hers where it rested on her lap and offered a squeeze.

  Tasha let her head fall against the back of the seat. “I’m sorry.”

  “For what, honey? You haven’t done anything wrong, Tasha.”

  “It feels like I have. I get these work things stuck in my head and…it overflows into other parts of my life,” she tried explaining, her words falling off when her voice started to quiver.

  “You think Mac is upset because Cassidy took time to do a little work this weekend? Or that she gets upset when something happens and he has to be at the arcade for a problem?” He slowed at the gate, tapped in the numbers and waited, guiding the truck through just enough to watch the gates close and the locks snick into place. “And I didn’t see a lot of anger in you when I had to go out earlier. Although, returning to the house and finding you still there would have been nice.”

  “Yeah…well…like I said…these things get inside my head and I get kind of antsy…I pace a lot at work, trying to visualize whatever I’m missing in a loop,” Tasha opened the seat belt and the door, sliding to the ground. She leaned against the seat, her head tipped back. “It’s beautiful, Dell…gorgeous…like a velvet carpet with diamonds spilled across it.”

  “Gorgeous is one word for what I see,” Dell responded, his gaze on her, not the sky above them.

  “It’s not too late…” She sighed and met his gaze. Tasha slipped the thin strap of the small purse from her neck and handed it and the folder to him. “Could you put these in the house and show me the horses? Please? Are there babies?”

  “Ponies or foals…” he corrected absently, taking her things and nodding. “Alright. I’ll be right back.”

  She watched him go, smiling to herself as she raised the skirt of her dress just enough to get her hands beneath it. She left the gift for him on the front of the truck before striding to the large deep red barn. She thought it very conscientious of them to label the buildings and since that one said horses in big, old western font, she knew where she wanted to be.

  “Tasha?”

  Dell’s deep voice echoed through the silence surrounding the ranch, the darkness and clear cool skies helping the sound travel.

  “Over here…I left you a present on the truck,” she called out gaily, continuing into the large barn.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Dell had stopped at the bottom of the stairs, his gaze sweeping from the last of her skirt disappearing inside the barn to the front of his truck.

  He might want to believe he was past the age of surprise, but the air caught in his lungs and his cock hardened at the scrap of blood red lace and nylon on the fender of the large truck. Three long strides had him there, grabbing the panties up and stuffing them into the pocket of his jeans.

  Tasha let the door close behind her, the scents suddenly surrounding her completely. There were two rooms, one on each side of her and ahead of her, the long open area with stalls on either side, all closed and mostly quiet.

  She went through the door to the right and tapped the light switch. She knew she was being nosy, but when it came to places she’d never been before, curiosity always won out. She was the girl who would go into the creepy, boarded up house and probably run out screaming the entire way.

  But this wasn’t a haunted house. It smelled like leather and some other things she couldn’t identify. Her gaze was busy going from floor to ceiling, the – stuff – there all organized and arranged. Some even had labels, maybe to help new staff get things right, she thought.

  Bridles, halters and ropes adorned one long, high wall, all neatly arranged and some even shiny. She crossed the room to a collection of what looked like saw-horses, bu
t they had wheels and each one had a different saddle on top. The top board was wider, thicker than a typical saw-horse. She noticed that when she glanced at the few empty.

  She grinned and leaned over the saddle, inhaling the leather scent and feeling the very smooth brown surface beneath her middle.

  “Now that is one hell of a sexy sight,” Dell’s voice was low and vibrated with the heat in his words. “Don’t move, Tasha,” he ordered when it looked like she was going to bounce up.

  Dell Russell was positive seeing Tasha bent over one of the saddles was the farthest thing from his mind when he stepped into the barn. He’d expected to find her wandering the stalls. Then he remembered not only her curiosity, but her city girl status. And you have the makings of a hard-on that wouldn’t quit.

  “Dell…” Tasha looked over her shoulder, biting the corner of her lip.

  “Honey…you left me a present for a reason…” Dell slipped the jacket off, draping it over another saddle and continuing across the room. The boots and spurs echoed and mingled with the rapid little breaths she was taking. “A little uncertain?”

  “I…uhh…was going to try and sit on it…”

  “But this position…” Dell moved behind her, his hands stroking over the fabric covering her hips. He caressed from her waist, along her sides to her hips, holding her firmly in place. His cock pressed demandingly between the rounded cheeks of her ass. His fingers curled, slowly pulling the dress higher.

  “So what was your intent, Natasha Banks?” Dell dropped the fabric on her back, his palms gliding to cup the rounded cheeks firmly. “If this is your way of apologizing…” he laughed when she made an attempt to bolt upright, one palm rising and swatting down firmly. “Uh-uh-uh…I like this for the moment,” he informed her.