Ultimate Courage

by Piper J. Drake

  “Elisa.” He waited until she looked up at him. He dropped Souze’s leash and took a few steps to cover the distance between them and stopped.

  After a moment’s hesitation, Elisa took the final step to close the space, putting her within easy arm’s reach.

  Warmth rushed through him at the sign of trust, acceptance. It was getting hotter in the room. Or maybe that was just him.

  He looked deeply into her expectant gaze.

  No. Not only him.

  He leaned forward and kissed her. Her lips were soft, brushing against his first before pressing in for real contact. Then she opened for him and he tasted her. She was honey sweet and hungry. She only let him tease her with a few flicks of his tongue before she nipped at the corner of his mouth and claimed a deeper kiss all on her own.

  Enjoying himself, and her, he raised his hands to cup her face, and she gasped.

  Freezing, he opened his eyes. “Is this okay?”

  Her eyes fluttered open—dizzy, and with a slight hint of panic. “Yes.”

  It wasn’t quite the truth. Maybe not a lie, either, but he eased back anyway.

  “Don’t.” Elisa lifted her own hands and gripped the front of his tee. “You’re not scaring me. I might be scaring myself, but it’s not you.”

  “And that’s all right.” He dropped his hands to her shoulders without pushing her away. “There’s a lot going on, fast. And this, this isn’t anything we need to rush.”

  “I…” She didn’t ease her hold on the front of his tee.

  “I can stop if you want. You can absolutely tell me to stop.” It was important for her to know that. He didn’t want to apply pressure. “And I can also be a friend, if you need ‘friend’ more.”

  It’d require a shit-ton of self-control, but he could do that for her. He wanted to at least be someone she could lean on if she needed to.

  “No.”

  His heart stopped in his chest. He started to release her shoulders. He should go if he wasn’t wanted. And good thing if they settled it right away like this. Tomorrow morning he’d come back as an easygoing friend and do his best to let her settle into a comfortable rhythm with him again.

  But Elisa released his tee to press his hands against her shoulders. “No, I don’t want you to stop. I just…need to find my way through every step as we go. And this between us is new, and complicated, and I don’t want it to get twisted up in the process.”

  He grinned. Better. Much better than he’d thought. “We can take it slow.”

  She looked up at him through long, dark eyelashes. “You don’t mind?”

  “Not at all.” Because aside from the kisses, he hadn’t really thought it through, either. This was going to be complicated from a couple of different angles, on both sides.

  She smiled then, rising up on tiptoes to kiss him again. He was really starting to like her kisses. Especially when she placed her hands on the waistband of his jeans and tugged him closer, tipping her head back and angling it for an even deeper kiss.

  He slid his hands over her shoulders and down her back. Time was starting to slip away, and he was more than happy to ignore its existence.

  Then a dog whined.

  Elisa jerked back like she’d been splashed with cold water. “Oh. I. Uh…”

  He raked his hand through his hair. “Yeah. Uh.”

  He turned to regard Souze, still dutifully sitting in the doorway, staring right at them. The dog might be drunk on the pheromones in the room because his jaw hung open in a doggy grin.

  “Not really into canine voyeurism.” Elisa sounded breathless and hell, his ability to speak clearly wasn’t in the best shape, either.

  Mostly, his brain was scrambled. His pants also felt about three sizes too tight around the groin area.

  “Rojas. You ready to go? Gary and Greg checked in; they’ll be here any minute.” Cruz’s voice came floating up the stairs.

  A beat of silence. “So did Souze whine because things were getting intense or because he heard Cruz coming to the stairs?” Elisa asked.

  “Actually, I don’t know.” Rojas considered himself a good trainer, and he could read canine body language most of the time. But there just wasn’t any way to know this time what exactly had nudged Souze to whine when he did.

  “Well.” Elisa let out a soft laugh. “Good timing either way, I guess.”

  Maybe. He was still arguing with the raging hard-on he had at the moment.

  “I guess you guys are going to head back now. Boom’s going to need to take her medicine before bedtime.” Her voice had gone softer, but he heard the tremor anyway.

  He turned back to her and brushed a stray lock of dark hair from her face. She’d be here by herself, and he really didn’t want to leave her alone if at all possible. And he also appreciated that Boom was at the forefront of both their otherwise chemistry-distracted minds.

  Inspiration struck. “Why don’t I leave Souze here with you?”

  Her eyes widened. “Really?”

  “Sure.” He jerked his head back to indicate the dog. “He’s already demonstrated good behavior in your company, and it doesn’t hurt to give him some exposure to a night outside his kennel. It’s not like the two of you even have to leave this room. Cruz and I will lock up.”

  The relief was palpable in her expression, the tiny wrinkles between her brows clearing. “I mean, just the company would make a difference, I think.”

  He nodded. “If there’s any issues at all, call us. If you hear anything outside or if he starts to fuss in here, it’s no problem. Just hit my number on speed dial.”

  “Okay.” She smiled.

  “Rojas!” Cruz amped up his call a couple of decibels.

  “Yeah!” Rojas called back over his shoulder. “On my way.”

  Elisa rose up on her tiptoes and kissed him, then gave him a decent shove. “Go on. And thank you.”

  * * *

  Rojas murmured a quiet command and shut the door behind him.

  “Doesn’t hurt to lock it,” he called back, muffled by the wood between them. “Gary and Greg have a room down in the basement so they won’t disturb you.”

  Both Elisa and Souze stood staring at the closed door, listening to the sounds of Rojas and Cruz greeting Gary and Greg. Then her new friends were turning off the lights and locking up the school downstairs. When she couldn’t hear any more, she watched Souze as the big dog continued to stare at the door, apparently still listening. After a few more minutes, Souze sat and looked at her.

  “Don’t ask me what we’re supposed to do now. I’ve no idea.” Elisa looked into those liquid, dark eyes and wondered what the big dog was thinking.

  Souze seemed to be considering her, too. Or maybe she fancied he was.

  After another minute, she crossed over to him. “Let me at least take off the leash so you don’t drag it around behind you.”

  Souze watched her as she approached, and she decided it’d be prudent to move slowly as she reached for his collar and unclipped the leash. There was a tension. Not something she saw in his body language, but she felt it, and it eased once she backed away again. Casual petting was probably not going to be a thing.

  “I should have listened more closely to the commands Alex used.” Even if she wasn’t using them, she decided to speak directly to Souze. It was what came naturally, and, at the very least, the dog would go along with natural. Right?

  It was still better than being alone.

  “Having you here is a hundred times better than the first night I was out on my own,” she told Souze.

  Or the nights after.

  She grabbed up her big purse and set it at the foot of the bed. Then she unzipped her overnight bag and pulled out a few toiletries.

  “I didn’t unpack last night.” Talking to Souze as she went about her business was actually a lot more relaxing than the silence she’d moved through the night before. At least then, though, she’d been tired enough to have fallen asleep listening to the late night class below
. She hadn’t heard Gary and Greg lock up for the night. Hadn’t realized when she’d been left alone.

  A cold, wet touch at her wrist made her jump. Souze backed away and sat again. She stood there, mouth open. “You can’t pretend you didn’t move. You’re about five feet from where you were sitting before.”

  He sat there, ears up, looking about as innocent as a really big dog could. So?

  “Did you want to sniff?” She held out her hand in a loose fist the way Alex had instructed her the first time.

  Souze didn’t move.

  She stared at him.

  Nope. Still not moving.

  Then she realized she was trying to get into a staring match with a dog as if some sort of telepathic communication was going to occur. And Alex had told her not to make eye contact.

  Following her line of thought, she continued to hold out her hand but awkwardly turned the rest of her body back toward her bag and resumed fishing around in there for her sleep shirt and sweat pants. She froze as a cool, wet touch brushed over her knuckles.

  Souze sniffed her hand, her wrist, and a warm tongue briefly licked her fingertips before the air around her hands turned cold with his retreat.

  “Did I pass inspection?” She used both her hands to gather her stuff and faced him again.

  He was back to sitting, ears up, but now his head was cocked at an angle, giving him an inquisitive expression.

  “I’m going to take a quick shower.” She walked past him to the bathroom and stopped in the doorway. Just as she spun to face him, there he was again. Sitting. Facing her. Definitely closer to the bathroom than he had been before. Apparently, the wonderfully cushy carpet allowed the dog super stealth. “You do not need to accompany me into the shower.”

  She stepped backward into the bathroom and closed the door in his face.

  Briefly, she leaned her forehead against the door and laughed. Quietly. This had been a day of ups and downs, and her heart might not survive the crazy flip-flop moments interspersed with bad scares. But this taste of the ridiculous was kind of fun.

  Alex had done her a big favor leaving Souze with her. Beyond the security he provided, the company was invaluable. And she could not thank Alex enough for the amount of consideration he’d given her since the moment she’d met him. If she thought back, so many of his actions had been kind and generous, even when he hadn’t any idea of who she was or if he’d ever see her again. There’d been no good reason for him to invest the effort.

  Despite his intimidating exterior, he was a good man. Maybe that was why her gut told her she could accept Alex’s help while her logical thought process repeatedly reminded her how much trouble it could get her into.

  There was a lot of anger in him. She’d seen it a couple of times. And she absolutely could see it a mile away. That ability had developed over the last few years with her ex as a survival skill. But Alex kept it on a tight leash, controlled, and never directed it at his daughter as far as she could tell. Boom didn’t show even the slightest fear of her father. If anything, Boom was the kind of bright and energetic child who might be allowed somewhat more license to go wild than she should be. So far, Alex hadn’t directed his temper at Elisa, either. He’d stopped himself a couple of times, even. Visibly struggled. But hadn’t exploded.

  If anything, knowing it was there made him more trustable in her eyes. She’d rather see it there, below the surface, than completely hidden and likely to burst out without any warning.

  Besides, his anger wasn’t the only way Alex Rojas burned hot.

  The memory of his kisses was enough to send her into the shower. As the water ran over her, she remembered how much she’d enjoyed his mouth on hers, and it wasn’t quite as embarrassing. No idea why, but there it was. The only issue was the way her imagination ran away with the remembered feel of his hands on her shoulders, her back, and took it further. She wanted him to hold her, slide his hands over her, and use his mouth all over.

  Reaching out, she turned the taps to a cooler temperature. She could keep imagining things and maybe even give herself some relief. Nothing wrong with that. But then she’d be wobbly getting out of the shower and there was also a really big dog between her and the bed.

  She was fairly certain he would absolutely know what she’d been up to. And the thought squicked her out.

  When she did finally open the door to the bathroom dressed in her sleep clothes, Souze was still sitting there. His mouth was open and his tongue lolled out a little.

  “Please tell me you’re not laughing at me.” She walked past him and repacked her overnight bag. No idea how long she’d be staying, but if her bag wasn’t packed and ready, if an emergency came up, she’d have to leave things behind.

  Luckily, she had what was left of her savings with her in her shoulder bag. But she needed to brainstorm a few ideas as to where she could keep emergency money in case she had to leave everything and make a break for it.

  “It’s only been forty-eight hours or so and Alex has already taught me way more than I realized I didn’t know when I decided to leave.” She started to turn down the bed, addressing Souze over her shoulder. “I mean, I got a few pamphlets, so I had an idea of what to plan to do before I left. Really left. But he’s had a lot of good suggestions, too.”

  When she glanced back at Souze, he was still giving her his doggie grin. His tail swept the carpet back and forth once. Tock-tock.

  Tail wagging was a good sign, as far as she knew.

  Encouraged, she kept talking. “So I’ll follow his example and keep trying to think of the worst-case scenario.”

  She climbed into the bed and turned out the small lamp on the nightstand. Through the darkness came the soft, reassuring sound of Souze panting.

  “Then I’ll have to come up with ways to anticipate those scenarios and plan actions to mitigate the circumstances.” Yeah. It could be a promise to herself. A way she could act on her own fate.

  “Good night, Souze.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Boom good for the night?”

  Rojas nodded tiredly, joining Forte and Cruz in his living room. Forte handed him a beer. “She’s gotten pretty far with her poster boards for her project. Apparently, the paint just has to dry and then she can work with Elisa tomorrow to fold paper into planets and light them up with earrings.”

  Cruz almost spit beer. “Come again?”

  “Hey, it was Elisa’s crafty plan.” Rojas waved his beer bottle in the general direction of Revolution MMA. “She can come over tomorrow and show Boom how to do it.”

  “Elisa is good people.” Cruz leaned forward and opened up his laptop.

  Forte grunted agreement. “The dogs like her.”

  Rojas nodded. “I left Souze with her.”

  Forte raised his eyebrows. “Yeah?”

  Rojas shrugged. “They’re not leaving the one room, and he’s not going to have to go out before morning. He’s housebroken and more than qualified for guard dog duty. She doesn’t have any of the nervous tics that’d make him snap at her. Should be fine.”

  “He’s not taking to the bite work readily.” Forte leaned back and stared at the ceiling. “We’ve been giving him some time, but we’re going to need to think of alternative careers for that dog.”

  Generally, alternatives meant they either found a home for the dog in question or sold him to a private buyer. With his training, Souze was valuable and could still live a long life as a guard dog. Preferably, a guard dog in far better circumstances than his initial environment. They took care to place any of their dogs in good homes.

  “Maybe.” Rojas didn’t want to commit. He’d grown attached to the bruiser. Even if he didn’t want to admit it. “It’s not like he’s all that sociable.”

  “Try not at all.” Cruz snorted. “That dog had next to no socialization before he got here.”

  “But he got along with Elisa.” Both Forte and Cruz looked up at him incredulously. He amended his statement. “In a standoffish sort of way.”
>
  Both men looked away again, Cruz to his laptop and Forte to the ceiling.

  After a moment, Cruz spoke. “You’re getting attached to him.”

  Tough part of training dogs for a living was risking the attachment. A trainer wanted to develop enough of a bond to train the dog well, prepare him for a tough job, and give him enough positive experience to bond well with a future handler. But some dogs got a little deeper.

  Rojas didn’t want to talk about Souze further. Not with more pressing points of interest to discuss. Instead he shared the information Elisa had given him about the additional reasons why Joseph Corbin Jr. was trying so hard to get a hold of her.

  After an appropriate amount of cursing, Rojas looked at his partners. “What have you got from the camera feed?”

  Cruz gave him a long, knowing look, then tapped his laptop. “We’re lucky Gary and Greg are tech addicts even if they don’t always keep their systems at optimal performance. They have good-quality cameras so their captured feed is in high resolution. I was able to capture a few stills from the video feed. Good enough to take to the police and see if they get any hits on him. Chances are he placed surveillance equipment intending to track her the next time she drove somewhere. She’s too valuable to just blow the car up with her in it.”

  Rojas nodded.

  “We’ll also run the images around to a few personal friends still active in the information business.” Cruz popped a few pictures up of the man so they could see his face in profile and head on. “He’s good enough to seem casual but not skilled enough to spot the less obvious security cameras like the ones Gary and Greg like to use. Probably your average hired help. Maybe a civilian private investigator or similar.”

  Considering their last round of excitement had involved ex-Navy SEALs, Rojas was glad to hear the good news. The three of them could more than handle themselves. They’d been through hell and back multiple times each, deployed overseas. Serving together had made them brothers. But they didn’t like to go head to head with anyone if it wasn’t necessary.

  “That said, private investigators cost money.” Forte leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. “What else do we know about our Elisa’s ex besides what he was up to?”