Only Her (A K2 Team Novel)

by Sandra Owens

  “This place is like being in some secret spy building. What did you say you people do?”

  “Nice try, darlin’.” He took the seat next to her, leaving the one at the head of the table empty.

  That dimpled grin of his did its job again, making her stomach fluttery and curling her toes. “I bet if I tortured you, you still wouldn’t tell me.”

  An unholy gleam lit his eyes. “Probably not, but might depend on just what you have in mind.” He leaned over and sucked her earlobe into his mouth. “There’s torture and then there’s torture.”

  Which was exactly what he was doing to her by his words and his warm breath caressing her neck. Not to mention the tingling that shot through her as he nipped on her lobe. “Cody,” she gasped.

  “Giving her a physical there, Dog?” a man said as he entered the room.

  Riley jerked away, and when Cody laughed, she swatted him. Cheeks burning, she turned to the stranger, who was eyeing her with interest.

  “As the team’s medic, I think I’m the one who should be examining her.” The guy winked at her.

  “Touch her and you die.”

  A wide grin split the man’s face. “Thought you weren’t going to drink the water,” he said mysteriously.

  “Shut up, Doc.” Cody put a possessive hand on her arm.

  What was that all about? The man was drop-dead gorgeous with his green eyes and beautiful smile. Another man walked in, and she recognized him as Maria’s husband, and following him was a blond, blue-eyed man. All of the guys were big, muscled, and just as drool worthy as Cody. She could grow to like this place.

  “Riley, the one with the funny green eyes is Ryan O’Connor, our medic, which is why we call him Doc.”

  “Nice to meet you,” she said after Cody introduced him. His eyes were definitely unusual, with orange streaks in the green, but they were beautiful.

  “The scary looking one is Jake Buchanan, aka Tiger, aka Maria’s husband,” Cody said. “And the pretty one is Jamie Turner, aka Saint.”

  The man he’d called Saint turned a beatific smile on her, and Cody was right. He was pretty in a very manly kind of way. Jake, she’d met once when he’d come into the clinic with Maria.

  “If it isn’t Mouse’s favorite vet.” Jake grinned. “Except when you give him shots. Hear you got a problem, Dr. Austin.”

  “Riley, please. Unfortunately, appears I do. Great seeing you again, but wish it were under better circumstances.” She turned to the one called Saint—and wasn’t that a perfect name for him? “And nice to meet you.”

  “Likewise, Riley.”

  The men took seats around the table, and she sent a questioning glance at Cody. Were they all here because of her? At his nod, she was overwhelmed that a team of men who appeared to be the take-no-prisoners types deemed her worth their attention. For a girl who’d had to fight her whole life to stay safe, who’d had to steal food in one of her foster homes to survive, who’d never had the kind of protection these men were offering, this scenario was beyond her comprehension. Tears stung her eyes and she swallowed hard.

  As if he understood, Cody squeezed her hand. While she struggled to compose herself, and the men were razzing each other in a way that told her they were as close as brothers, another man walked into the room, taking the chair at the head of the table.

  She would have known he was Logan Kincaid even if he hadn’t taken that particular seat. Although he’d not said a word yet, there was an air of command about him. And jeez, he was as good-looking as the rest of them. She glanced at Cody, and he gave her a reassuring smile.

  Even surrounded by some of the hottest men she’d ever laid eyes on, to her, Cody was the only one that called to something inside her. She smiled back before turning her attention to Logan Kincaid, only to find him watching her. Riley had the unsettling feeling that if anyone had eyes that could see into the soul, it was this man. With considerable effort, she didn’t squirm.

  “This is Logan Kincaid,” Cody said. “Boss, Dr. Riley Austin.”

  “Dr. Austin, I hear you’ve got some trouble.”

  That was it. No exchange of pleasant talk for a few minutes, no getting to know each other. That was fine. Since she found the man intimidating, she wouldn’t have a clue how to chat with him. “Riley, please.”

  “Riley it is. Because we all go by more than one name, we’ll keep it to first names to prevent any confusion, so I’m Logan.” He chuckled, making him seem more human. “See, you’re already confused. Take my brother-in-law. Sometimes he’s Jake, sometimes Buchanan, other times, Tiger, and always Dumbass.”

  Jake snorted. “Hey, be nice to me or I’ll tell Maria.”

  “I’m shaking in my boots,” Logan said. He shifted those inquisitive dark eyes back to her. “Cody’s briefed us on the situation, so we don’t need to go over that. Maria’s working on narrowing down the list of possible cars. She’ll be here in a few minutes.”

  “I’m here now.” She pressed Riley’s shoulder as she passed, sitting in the empty chair next to her husband.

  With so much testosterone in the room, it was nice to have another woman at the table. Riley gave an inward snort. There wasn’t a woman in the world who wouldn’t think she’d died and gone to heaven to be surrounded by so much eye candy, and here she was feeling relieved to have female company. She’d likely be enjoying herself more if not for the reason she was here.

  “I don’t want to be an inconvenience.” She had to get that said. If her guess was correct, K2 was some kind of secretive agency doing God knew what, and they probably had more important things to do. Like save the planet.

  “There’s one thing you need to understand,” Logan said. “We take care of our own, and by your . . . friendship with Cody, that includes you.”

  Riley caught his hesitation at the word friendship, and her cheeks heated. The man was an oracle—or some such thing—and probably knew exactly where on Cody’s body her mouth had been yesterday. Gah, shut that vision down, or he really will know just from the bright red of your cheeks. Cody’s soft chuckle confirmed that at the moment, her face was an open book. She kicked him under the table, which made him grin. Daring to glance around, she saw that all the men and Maria were looking at her with amusement.

  “Like being in a room with twelve-year-olds,” Maria said. “Ignore them. I do.”

  Jake leaned over and kissed Maria. “Try and ignore that, Chiquita.”

  Logan gave a huge sigh. “I hate it when you kiss my sister in front of me, Dumbass.”

  “Don’t care,” Jake said.

  Maria rolled her eyes. “See what I mean?”

  Riley laughed. So far, she really liked these people. She also believed that Logan allowed the nonsense knowing it would help calm her. Except for Cody and Ryan, the men wore wedding rings, and she’d love to meet the women strong enough to take them on.

  “Playtime’s over,” Logan said, drawing her attention back to him. “Cody, what’s your plan to handle this situation?”

  Riley was eager to hear that, too.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Because he’d put a lot of thought into how to protect Riley while hunting down their target, Cody didn’t hesitate. Also, he knew the boss expected him to be prepared to answer that question. Since he was already on shaky ground, he wasn’t about to screw up anymore, so yes he had a plan.

  He shifted to face Riley. “The most important thing is your safety. The only way to achieve that is to have someone with you twenty-four seven.”

  “I have a practice to run. Are you going to follow me around while I clip toenails and neuter people’s pets?”

  “Not wanting to watch that,” Jake said, and every member of the team shuddered.

  Cody had the urge to cover his balls. “I think we’ll all pass on that one.”

  “You guys are such babies,” Maria said.

  Jake laughed. “Where our junk’s concerned, you bet your ass, sweetheart.”

  Riley and Maria shared a look as if t
o say these guys are idiots. Something inside him unfurled at seeing how well Riley was fitting in with his friends. He’d known she would, but watching it happen quite honestly scared him. She was working her way into his life without even trying, and how big of a hole was she going to leave when he went and screwed things up?

  “No, we aren’t going to get in the way of your work. Most times you’ll forget we’re even there,” he assured her.

  She smirked. “I doubt that.”

  Well, they were an imposing bunch, but she had no clue. “Darlin’, we’re very good at what we do, and when that means we need to blend into the woodwork, we disappear from sight. Most of the time, that’ll be me, but if I’m needed elsewhere, it will be someone in this room taking my place.” He glanced at Kincaid to make sure one of the team would be available if needed and got a slight nod.

  “I just don’t want my pet owners to think they’re in danger. You won’t be packing guns or whatever, will you?”

  “Oh, we’ll be packing whatever,” Jamie said, “but you or your clients won’t see anything alarming. Like Cody said, we’ll blend in.”

  The next thing Cody had to say was going to be the hardest. Before he got into the details of his plan, he needed to lay everything on the table. Debating how much to say had kept him awake most of the night, but it had to be done. Other than Kincaid and Ryan, the others didn’t know he was dealing with some serious issues, and it was only fair they were warned, especially Riley, since it was her life on the line.

  He probably should have told her privately, but he didn’t think he could deal with speaking twice about what was going on with him. “Here’s the thing you need to know. I’ve been grounded.” His gaze was on Riley, his words for her, but even without checking, he knew his teammates were listening as he had sensed their attention, had heard the creaks of their chairs as they sat forward. As for Riley, by the way she was looking at him and only him, and the softness in her eyes as she waited for him to continue, he wondered if she’d forgotten there were others in the room.

  “Why? Because of your nightmares?”

  Trust her to get right to the point. He almost regretted not telling her privately as he’d like nothing more than to lay his head on her lap, close his eyes, and tell her all his secrets while she used her fingers to stroke his hair. “In a way. I had a flashback that mirrored my dream when Ryan and I were in the middle of an operation.” He couldn’t meet the eyes of his teammates. Every man here knew you never allowed a weakness to endanger a warrior brother’s life. If that boy would have had a gun instead of a knife, the situation could have easily turned tragic.

  Don’t go there, Dog. Not here and not now. “I’m getting help,” he said, finally meeting the gazes of his friends.

  “Whatever you need from us, man, you know you got it,” Jamie said.

  The others echoed him, and when Riley put her hand on his leg and squeezed, he came close to losing it. He’d been alone and isolated since coming home from his last deployment, and until the day Kincaid had knocked on his door, offering him a job that reunited him with his team, he’d tried to numb himself with scotch, a lot of the stuff.

  “Thanks,” he said, hating how gruff his voice sounded. “So other than my doctor appointments . . .” he turned to Riley, “I’m all yours.”

  “Lucky me.”

  “I don’t know about that, but let’s hope so.” The smile she gave him went straight to his gut. He cleared his throat. “Along with protecting you, we need to up our search for the target. Maria’s working on the car angle, and if you would, boss, it might be helpful if you pulled in some favors with the police department to make sure they increase their patrols in the area.”

  “Done,” Kincaid said. “I’ve also sent what we know so far to a profiler friend of mine. She’s going to get something back to us by the end of the week.”

  “Thanks, boss. Appreciate it.”

  Riley twirled her bottle of water. “What can I do?”

  “You and I are going to do a lot of dog walking, watching for anything suspicious.”

  “What about us?” Jake asked.

  “Until we get some kind of lead on this character, I’m not sure what you can do. If you’re bored and have a little free time, wouldn’t hurt for you to cruise around the area of Riley’s clinic, keeping an eye out.”

  “Charlie and I can take walks around there,” Ryan said.

  Riley glanced up. “Who’s Charlie?” Was there another member of the team she hadn’t met?

  “My fiancée. She’s an amazing aerobatic pilot.”

  There was so much pride in his voice that Riley couldn’t help smiling. She looked forward to Saturday when she’d get to meet all the wives and girlfriends. These men were fascinating, and she wanted to see what kind of women they fell for. Growing up in foster care, moving from home to home, frequently changing schools, she’d not had friends, much less a bestie.

  If asked to describe herself, she’d say that her first memories were of a little girl who was shy and scared. She didn’t remember much of her parents. They’d been killed in a car crash when she was three, and she’d gone to live with her only relative, her grandmother. Nana, grief-stricken over the death of her only child—Riley’s father—hadn’t had room in her heart for a granddaughter confused over the drastic change in her life. Riley learned to be as quiet as a mouse least she anger Nana and get another lecture on what a burden she was.

  When she was six and about to start school, Nana had had a heart attack and died. There were a lot of things Riley had learned in the following years, and how to push past the shyness was the first. It was only because she had learned to stand up for herself that she’d remained mostly untouched by people who were supposed to protect and care for her. When she wasn’t allowed enough to eat and was sent to bed hungry, she’d learned how to steal food in a way it wouldn’t be missed. That lesson, she’d discovered the hard way during her stay in the first foster home when she’d eaten some leftover fried chicken.

  As she grew into her teen years, and the fathers or older boys in whatever home she was living in had tried to touch her in a way that made her uncomfortable, she’d threatened to go straight to the mother or to call 911. When one of the boys hadn’t believed her, she’d screamed her head off. Blaming Riley for coming onto her son, the mother had called Child Protective Services. Faster than she could pack her meager belongings in a garbage bag, she was put in a new home, which had been fine with her.

  Another lesson had been learned. If a home she was sent to was intolerable, raise enough hell and she’d be removed. By the time she’d been labeled a problem child, she’d shut down any hope that a nice family would adopt her. It wasn’t until Reed that she’d dared to love again, and after losing him, John and Pat had literally saved her life, taking her into their home and dishing out their no-nonsense love.

  With the determination of a bulldog intent on keeping a bone, she’d chased her dream of being a veterinarian, and she’d succeeded. The day she’d received her doctor of veterinary medicine degree, John and Pat had been the only two people in the world who’d been there to celebrate with her.

  She glanced around the table. Now here she was, in a room full of people who seemed to care about her safety. It was enough to make a girl cry. The discussion wound down, and Logan stood.

  “Got a minute, Cody?” he said.

  “Are you going to ask if I’m worried about having another flashback?”

  Logan returned to his seat. “That was my intention. I thought you’d prefer to discuss it in private.”

  Under the table, Cody’s leg bounced, bumping hers, making her think of an agitated tiger. That was the only way she knew the subject distressed him. Other than that, nothing showed on his face, and his hands were flat on the arm of his chair.

  “I’d prefer not to talk about it at all, but I’m done hiding it.” He glanced at her, and at the uncertainty in his eyes she smiled, nodding for him to go on. “I can’t ask any o
f you to back me up if I’m not honest with you. So, yeah, the flashbacks scare the shit out of me . . . that I might have one in the middle of a situation again. The thing is, if Riley’s life is on the line, I think I can power through it. My next appointment is Friday afternoon, and if the head doc disagrees, I’ll tell you.”

  Riley could tell it was killing him to admit he had a problem, but he had, and in front of those whose opinions he valued the most. He was a beautiful, brave man, and she fell a little in love with him sitting there, surrounded by his teammates. She wished they were alone so she could wrap her arms around him and hold him close, but settled for putting her hand on his bouncing knee. His leg stilled, and he covered her hand with his.

  “Fair enough,” Logan said. He glanced around the table, his gaze landing on her last, and staying there. “Anyone have a problem with that?”

  She waited until everyone else had chimed in, all of them good with Cody’s offer, before speaking. “I trust Cody with my life.” There was nothing to add to that, no caveat, no buts.

  Cody’s gaze landed on her, and she was probably the only one who heard his quiet expel of breath, as if he’d been holding it, expecting to hear her say just the opposite. It got very quiet, and she glanced around to see everyone watching her with knowing smiles on their faces.

  “Welcome to the club, Dog,” Logan mysteriously said, his eyes dancing with amusement. “Call me after your appointment.”

  After he left, the others filed out, each one touching both Cody’s shoulder and hers. It felt like she’d just been initiated into some kind of society she knew nothing about. Maria was the last to leave, and she gave both Cody and Riley a hug. Then she left while humming the “Wedding March.”

  Riley frowned at Maria’s back as she left. “What’s up with that?”