Energized

by Mary Behre

  Her throat tightened. For a moment her vision blurred with tears. She blinked quickly, sucking in breaths to stop the waterfall. She wouldn’t cry. Not now. She was free. She was fine.

  So why did she feel like a great big ball of weepiness?

  The phone rang in her hands.

  “It’s Karma. Go ahead and answer it,” Niall said, sparing the phone a glance. “I told her I’d call her ten minutes ago, but we were still in there.”

  Pressing the phone to her ear, Hannah obeyed. “Hi, Karma. It’s me, Hannah.”

  “Oh, thank you, baby Jesus! Niall did it. He told me he’d get you out. I shouldn’t have doubted him.” The relief in her voice made Hannah’s eyes sting all over again. “Tell him I’ve got it under control at the Cat. Everything will be fine when y’all get in.”

  Hannah hazarded a glance at her boss. “Does this mean I still have a job?” And a place to live? But she didn’t voice that second question aloud.

  “Of course,” Niall said at the same time Karma replied, “Damn straight. Those assholes have messed with the wrong family. I can’t believe they didn’t let you go when you told them Dev was your brother-in-law.”

  “I didn’t tell them.”

  “What? Why not? They probably would have let you go hours ago.” Karma paused. “Or maybe not. They’re not big fans of Dev. He makes them look bad. ’Cause, you know, they suck at their jobs.”

  That managed to elicit a laugh, of sorts. Hannah snorted, then shook her head when Niall whipped his gaze to hers.

  “Oh, crap. In all the rush, I forgot to leave the door unlocked. Don’t worry. Zig’s shift just ended. He’ll let you in.”

  “Karma—” Hannah started to protest but was cut off.

  “Girl, I gotta go. Delivery guys are finally here. Only a day late. I need to supervise them. Tell Niall I’ve got it under control and to take care of you. Bye.” She didn’t wait for Hannah to respond but clicked off.

  Niall took the exit off the highway and rolled the truck to a stoplight. Hannah handed the phone back to him. “Thanks. Um. Niall, you can drop me anywhere.”

  “Don’t you want to get some sleep? You’ve got to be exhausted.” Niall reached out, and for a moment, it seemed like he was going to touch her face but he curled his fingers and pulled back at the last second. “Let me take you to Karma’s.”

  “No. Really, I need to find an ATM. I’m starving and I’ve been wearing these clothes for twenty-four hours. And . . . I need to rent a room. I can’t keep staying at Karma and Zig’s. Not after last night.” Hannah watched the ocean roll past on her right and added softly, “I don’t want to get him into any trouble. Those detectives—”

  “Were assholes,” Niall snapped. “Pardon my language, ma’am.”

  “Still not the minister’s wife.” Hannah surprised them both by quipping back.

  Niall’s eyes softened and crinkle lines formed around the edges.

  Da-yam, the man was hot.

  “Zig can deal with the other cops. He’ll be fine. You think Karma would tolerate a pussy? Pardon my language. She wouldn’t keep Zig around if he couldn’t handle himself. But if you’re really hungry, let’s get food. Then I can take you shopping. Unless, of course, you have a deep-seated need to walk to the store. After that, we’ll figure out where you can sleep tonight. Sound good?”

  “Not the Boxing Cat, please. I can’t face everyone. Not yet. I need a shower and clean clothes first. If that’s not okay, then I’ll get out at the next light.”

  Niall glanced ahead, then back at her. He winked. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’ve turned. The ocean is behind us and only the national park is on the right. You’ll have a long walk. So sit back, relax. I’ll take you to a nice breakfast.”

  The nice breakfast was at the local family diner. They ate in relative silence. That might have been her fault. Niall had tried to initiate a conversation several times, but she didn’t want to talk. Not to him. Not to anyone.

  He seemed to take it in stride and when their meal was over got their coffees to go and ushered her back into his truck. Once inside, she expected him to start the engine but he didn’t. He turned to her instead.

  “You know, when I was in the desert, I met guys who believed if they kept it locked down, the crap they were facing wouldn’t bother them. It’s a crock. It still bothered them. And some learned to let off a little steam. Others never did and just blew one day.”

  Hannah set her coffee in the cup holder and stared at him. “Which one were you?”

  He gave her a quick half smile. “Steam guy. I wasn’t always. I learned it was better to let a little out than to blow a gasket. So it’s okay if you need to vent a little steam right now. You’ve earned it.”

  “I’m fine.” She let the words hang in the air for a moment, then shook her head. “No, I’m not. I’m all turned around. At least I’m not hungry anymore.”

  “You look much better than when I picked you up. You’ve got color back in your cheeks.” He sipped his coffee. “So come on, let me have it. You’ll feel better. At least, that’s what my mom always says.”

  “Your mom, huh?”

  She paused, then decided to trust him. In this moment, he reminded her more of the Marine she’d met all those months ago, except stronger somehow. Not that he’d been weak. But now he appeared ready to offer the ear she had offered him. She took a deep breath and hoped she was doing the right thing, because she really needed him right now.

  “Ever have one of those days where you have no idea what the universe is trying to tell you?” She sat back and the seat made an obscene noise. Her cheeks heated but Niall only laughed. She gestured to the seat. “Like that. Everything is going wrong. I thought I was supposed to be here. I really believed the signs were pointing me to Tidewater but from the moment I stepped off the bus everything has gone wrong.” She rubbed at the ache in her neck with both hands. “Finding out I work for the guy I had my one and only one-night stand with seemed perfect. I mean, that night had been incredible and finding out you were my boss appeared wonderful for about five seconds.

  “Then you showed up and made it clear my presence made you uncomfortable. I mean, come on. You acted like I was some crazed stalker who’d hunted you down with the intention of knocking you over the head and dragging you off to the nearest wedding chapel. Oh, you covered well, but I saw the panic in your eyes.

  “Then I had that awful, sickening vision. Honestly, I’ve never seen anything so monstrous in my life. When Karma told me to report it, it seemed the right thing to do. Again, the universe sent me a resounding, ‘uh, no way cupcake’ sign. Because what happened when I tried to report it? I was booted out of the station in under twenty minutes. If that wasn’t bad enough, my hotel burned down. I lost everything I brought with me including the brand-new art bag that my parents gave me at graduation. It’s stupid to be so upset about it, but I really am. It was beautiful. Black leather and large enough to hold my art pads, paints, pencils, brushes. They even had it monogrammed. Yeah, I can get another one, but not like that. Not to mention all my clothes are crispy because as you so deftly pointed out I am an earth dog who wears only cotton.”

  “Hannah—”

  “Then I smashed eggs all over us and you sent me to the grocery store to buy fresh ones. Thank God, you gave me enough money to cover the cost of replacing my ruined uniform, but I don’t know how I’m going to repay you if things keep going the way they’re going. At this rate, my first check will be in the negative digits. Do you know the best part of my day was when we got slammed with the refugees from the art show fund-raiser? It was the only time I felt relatively normal.

  “I mean, yeah, I had to avoid touching silverware and the metal worktables in the kitchen, but no one looked at me as if I was about to jump them or kill them or I don’t know . . . burst into flames. And you know what? I really like my job. More than
I’d ever thought possible. It’s more fun than working at a bar. I mean, yeah, I’m supposed to be an electrician because it’s safe and I’m good at it but I also don’t get to spend much time with other people. So it’s lonely. Working at the Boxing Cat was more fun than I’ve had in months. And until that stupid vision, it was the only time I could be around people and not worry about accidentally getting a vision off them.”

  A stray tear tickled her cheek in a slow slide but she swiped at it and kept going. She couldn’t have stopped talking any more than she could have held back that single escaped tear.

  “So there I was at the end of the night thinking the universe wanted me here after all, then those cops showed up. They couldn’t pull me aside quietly. No, they had to make a production in front of the whole staff, accusing me of murder. And when they put those metal cuffs on me, I thought I was going to die, right there in the backseat of their car. Do you know the last guy they had in those cuffs murdered some old man because he was jonesing for a fix and needed money? He stabbed the guy for six freaking dollars.”

  In an instant, Niall had his seat belt off and had unhooked hers. His arms came around her, and still she couldn’t stop talking. She gulped air as tears continued to squeeze out from beneath her closed lids. Each breath she drew in smelled like him. Spicy and uniquely Niall.

  “Those jerks dragged me out of the only place where I’d felt normal in the whole city and treated me like a criminal.” She buried her face in his shoulder. “They spent hours—hours—threatening to arrest me. Telling me that I had to be the killer to know everything I did. That I was sick and crazy. If I didn’t go to prison they’d make sure I was locked up in a psych ward for the rest of my life. I knew I was telling the truth. I didn’t hurt anyone.”

  “Of course, you didn’t.”

  “But dammit, I started to doubt why the universe had even led me here.”

  Then, to her horror, the tears she’d been fighting erupted past her control, spilling down her cheeks and onto his shoulder. Her ability to speak gone, she simply wept. Niall crooned softly in her ear. “You’re okay now. I won’t let them hurt you. You’re okay.”

  He stroked her hair. Gently. So gently. Rocking her, holding her, being so freaking kind.

  And that, more than anything, had her weeping harder.

  * * *

  NIALL HELD HER until her tears were spent. She wept silently, her shoulders shaking. She was sunshine and joy personified. It wasn’t natural to see her weep. And it ripped him apart.

  When she finally pulled back, her cheeks were blotchy, her eyes swollen, her nose running, and she looked so lost. He dug through the glove compartment for tissues, but only came up with napkins. He handed her two. “Sorry. It’s all I have.”

  She gave him a watery smile. “Thank you.” Hannah wiped her face and blew her nose, then tucked the used napkin in her pants pocket.

  “Feel better?” Niall asked, still stroking her hair. His stupid-ass rule about keeping their relationship strictly professional was seemingly forgotten by her. And he found that suited him fine. When he held her in his arms, he remembered just how perfectly she fit there. How perfectly they fit together.

  “Surprisingly, yes.” She slid away from his touch. “I guess I needed a meltdown. This is all temporary. Right? I mean, I’m only in town for the summer and clearly the universe agrees I shouldn’t plan to stay much longer. I won’t even have a job past Saturday night. So I need to put aside all the stress and focus on the positive. Like not being at the police station anymore. Thanks for getting me out and for listening, Ma— um, Boss.”

  She used the term to further add distance between them. It left him oddly . . . bereft.

  Wasn’t that a kick in the balls?

  “Hannah, I’m not your boss.” A stricken look crossed her face. He backpedaled. “I mean, I am your boss, but don’t call me that. Just call me Niall. Okay?”

  “Right. Just Niall. Nothing else.” She nodded but the note in her voice made him want to ask what she wanted to call him. She’d called him Marine that night, as if it were a nickname or she was claiming him somehow. But she hadn’t done it since she’d arrived in Tidewater. Given the distance she was putting between them now, it didn’t look like she was going to do it anytime soon.

  Again, that bereft sensation echoed in his chest.

  He started the engine of the truck. “So where to now? Clothes? Let me guess, you’re not a boutique kind of woman.”

  “No, I usually shop at thrift stores. Best clothes at the cheapest prices. Considering my body shape, it’s too expensive to buy separates retail.”

  “And it has nothing to do with your hippie ways about reusing things.”

  “You think you know me so well.” There was a note of snark in her voice but the sparkle in her beautiful eyes ignited.

  “I’ve been in your place. Everything was used. Well preserved but secondhand.” He pulled back on the road and tried to remember the nearest vintage clothing store.

  “Except my art supplies. They were new and top of the line. It’s where my money went. Well, that and electrician’s school.” She cleared her throat. The spark in her eyes had vanished again, replaced with exhaustion.

  “How about we do this in a few hours? Let me take you home and you can get some rest.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t feel comfortable. Karma’s not there and I don’t want to wake Zig.”

  “Are you afraid of him for some reason?” Niall worried not only for Hannah but for his friend too.

  “Oh, no. I don’t want to cause him any trouble with those detectives. I heard them talking about him. Saying they’ll get him busted down to desk duty permanently when they prove I killed the guy. It wouldn’t be nice of me to risk his career when all he and Karma have done is try to help me.”

  “I think you’re not giving him enough credit.”

  “Or you’re not giving those guys enough.” She shook her head and yawned. “If you’ll take me to an ATM, I’ll rent another hotel room.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. Stay at my house. I’ve got room.”

  She hesitated, twisting her pink braid between her fingers. “I thought you wanted to keep this strictly professional. What would it look like if I slept at your place?”

  “Like one of my staff members needed my help again.” He paused knowing he was telling her a half-truth. Sure, he’d let staff crash at his place after an event. But that staff was his brother. He never invited the waitstaff, chefs, or busboys to spend the night. But this wasn’t the night. And she was exhausted. “You won’t be the first staff member to sleep at my place. You don’t need to rent a hotel room right now. You need sleep. You’ll feel better in a few hours. If you’re worried about me, I won’t be there. I need to head to the Boxing Cat to tend to last-minute details for tomorrow’s wedding.”

  “God, that’s tomorrow.” She looked like she might break down again, but then pulled herself together with sheer will. “I don’t know if Karma told you or not, but the bride, is, um . . . my oldest sister.”

  CHAPTER 15

  WHAT WERE THE odds? Maybe there was something to her faith in signs and the universe.

  “Have you called her yet?” Niall asked, turning off the highway and onto his cul-de-sac. His parents’ house, well, his house now, stood tall and proud at the center of the turnaround. Pushing the button on the car visor, he raised the garage door.

  “No. There was no time. I didn’t find out until yesterday afternoon, then we were slammed with guests. Then . . .” She didn’t need to explain further.

  “Got it. Do you want to call her now?” Niall put the truck in park, closed the garage door, killed the ignition, and started to head inside the house. Hannah followed him.

  “No. She’s getting married tomorrow. I don’t want my first time talking to her in years to happen when I’m confuzzled and weepy. I wa
nt her to like me.”

  “She’s going to love you,” Niall said automatically, then fell silent. Because, yeah, this wasn’t awkward. He held the kitchen door open for her. “Come on in, Hannah.”

  She stepped inside and stared. Not that he could blame her. “The motif is a little eighties for my taste, but Mom loved it. She picked out the blue rooster wallpaper herself.”

  Hannah turned a wide-eyed stare in his direction. “Your mother decorated your house?”

  “What? You lived over your parents’ bar. Don’t look at me like that.” He waited another beat, then confessed, “I grew up in this house. My parents gave it to me when they moved into their condo. They were going to sell it, but I convinced them to let me fix it up first. Only the kitchen looks like something out of a John Hughes movie. I just couldn’t change it yet.”

  “Too sentimental?” she asked, running her hand over the chipped white enamel stove top.

  “Hardly.” He laughed. “I was saving this room for last because it’s going to cost the most to upgrade. I want top-of-the-line stainless steel appliances and new bamboo flooring. I want to build a center island with a bar. Plus, I need to rewire half the kitchen because whoever did it thirty years ago got a few things backward. Like the light switch over here doesn’t work in this room but turns on the fan in the living room.”

  Hannah swept her gaze around the room with a smile. “I can help with the wiring here. Once I get a few tools replaced. I like your vision for the kitchen. It’s gonna be great.”

  She yawned. Huge. Like he could see her tonsils.

  And damn, he’d forgotten why he’d brought her here in the first place.

  “Come on.” He led her up the stairs to his guest room, then immediately slammed the door closed before she could see it.

  Ross, you selfish bastard. Learn to pick up your shit.

  He crossed the hall to his room and opened the door. “You can sleep in here.”

  Hannah stepped inside, a frown on her face. The immaculate room had a framed picture of him in his dress blues hanging on one wall. An extra-wide two-row bookcase was filled with novels by everyone from Tom Clancy to Tess Gerritsen. The tan carpeting was freshly laid, clean, and recently vacuumed. His tan-colored dresser was neat, all of his clothes put away. He’d even dusted this morning when he couldn’t sleep. So there was nothing out of place.