by Honor James
“You’ll need to give me a refill for me to answer that question,” he told her. He tipped the glass to his lips, draining the last mouthfuls, and then handed it to her. His expression said he wasn’t kidding, not even a little.
She stood and went to the kitchen, grabbing the bottle and bringing it to the couch once more. She poured him a drink and then herself. “All right, you have a drink, I have a drink. So talk to me. Please?”
Taking another sip, he settled the glass on his thigh. “You always were a pushy little thing, and impatient, too. Part of your charm, I suppose.” He was stalling, she knew it, and yet she let him get away with it. “I’ve always known you were going to be important in my life. We’ve known one another long enough, grew up together practically, and got in so much trouble, too. It wasn’t until I was in front of that judge, though, that I knew I’d do anything to protect you. The why shocked the hell out of me. The fact I couldn’t call you up immediately to let you know why nearly killed me. Then I had the worries about surviving training, and then surviving on the battlefield on top of that. What all my rambling boils down to is that I have always, and likely will always, love you, Clara Smith.”
Clara put her wineglass onto the table and just looked at him. “I’ve always loved you as well, Elliott Timmons.” She was surprised by her words but knew that they were the truth all the same. She nodded and moved to place her hands on his cheeks. “The question now is, what happens next?” She wanted him a great deal. She wanted him more than she could tell him.
“Told you already, that’s totally up to you, sweetheart.” He was smiling at her, though. Leaning in, he pressed a kiss to her lips. Quick, much too quick for her taste, before he pulled back. “For now, though, I need to get back to work. I had a bunch of programs compiling information on a potential future client and I need to get it into some semblance of order before Michael gets in tomorrow morning. Then I need to get a hazmat unit in to clean my office I think. I’ve practically been living in it since someone went and mucked around on my system and sent me into overload.”
“I hadn’t meant for you know that I was there,” she admitted. “I only want for you to know that yes, yes I would really love to have a relationship with you.” She did smile. She couldn’t help herself. “You are too funny. I think that it’s going to be truly wonderful to get to know you, to know everything about you and the man that you are now.”
“You should have been a lot more careful if you didn’t want me to know you were there, sweetheart.” He took another drink from his glass, and then put it aside. Getting to his feet he tugged her up to stand in front of him. “Come by the office tomorrow. I’ll show you around, introduce you to everyone, Yoshi included, and then we’ll do lunch. I might even be fully awake by then.”
“That sounds good to me,” she told him. “I will see you tomorrow then,” she said as she walked with him to the door. She watched him carefully. Reaching out she put her hand on his chest and nodded. “Tomorrow at lunchtime, deal?”
“Deal,” he said. Leaning over he kissed her on her nose. Then grinned when she scrunched her face up. “Good to see some things haven’t changed at all. See you tomorrow, sweetheart. Get some sleep,” he told her. Lifting her hand from his chest, he pressed a kiss to her fingers then let her hand go as he went out the door.
Clara watched Elliott as he walked away. She watched the way that he moved, the changes from boy to man. Goodness this man was, he was everything that made her panties wet and made her anxious with desire. “Tomorrow, make sure that you take your vitamins,” she called out to him before closing and locking the door.
Chapter Three
Clara pulled up to the building where the Nightshade Agency resided. She smiled. Nightshade was an extremely deadly plant, however, there were times when if used properly it could be beneficial. She walked into the office and signed in. Once that was done she was led up to the floor where the agency took up the entire space. She stood there now in the open, simply watching Elliott as he moved around his office.
Reaching up, she knocked on his door and grinned when he swirled to look at her. “Hey. You said lunchtime. I haven’t come at a bad time, have I?”
He smiled as he walked over to meet her. “Of course not, come on in. We’ll head out in a couple of minutes. I was just getting together some additional information for Michael. Once I drop that off with him we’ll be free to head out.” He spun toward his computers when a dinging sound echoed out. Bending over the keyboard, he typed in a couple of commands, and then moved to the printer. “This is the last of it. Did you want a tour now, or after lunch?”
“We can do it now, if you wouldn’t mind? I would like to see the place that you call your work.” She leaned against the door and watched him. “That is as long as you don’t mind showing me around now?” She had worn a comfortable dress today, nice and flowy. It was sleeveless, and flared around the edges, something she hoped that he would like.
“I definitely do not mind showing you around, or showing you off, too.” Giving her a wink, he slipped the freshly printed pages into the folder he had in hand and came over to her. Slipping his hand into hers, Elliott squeezed her fingers. “Come on then. We’ll go down to Michael’s office, and then I’ll give you the grand tour on our way back to the front doors. We might even find Yoshi, too, at some point.”
“Deal.” Her fingers twined in with his. She held his hand with hers and walked along at his side. She was glad that she was wearing her high heels so that he didn’t tower over her as he would if she had worn her shorter heels.
He led her through the hallways until they came to an office door he knocked on. When a deep voice called out, he pushed the door open and went in, tugging her along with him. Elliott handed off the folder to the large man behind the desk. “Michael, this is Clara Smith. Clara this is the guy in charge around here, Michael Burnett.”
Pushing to his feet, Michael came around the desk to shake her hand. “A pleasure, Ms. Smith.”
She knew the face of the man that was before her. He was one of the men she had helped save over the years. She smiled and took his hand in hers. “Nice to meet you as well.” At least face-to-face, but she kept that part to herself. “Looks as if you have a good operation going on here, some really good men working for you.”
“They have their moments, when they aren’t off chasing ghosts.” The words sounded like a reprimand. “We’re still ironing out a few bugs, but we’re definitely getting to where we’re functioning as a unit once more.”
Elliott squeezed her hand lightly. “We’ll get out of your hair. I promised the lady lunch after all, and I’d like to do that before you find something else for me to do.”
Michael gave a grunt to him though his eyes stayed on her. “Then you’d better get a move on. Plenty more to do later today. Again, nice to meet you, Ms. Smith.”
“Same to you,” Clara said and looked up at Elliott. “Come on, more to see and then you are mine for at least an hour.” Hopefully at least. “And you do know,” she continued as they walked into the hall. “If you ever need help with anything here, all you have to do is ask. I’m pretty set at the magazine and can do just about anything. And no, before you ask, they don’t know that I’m a computer guru. If they knew I would be doing all the idiotic stuff that they overpay their so-called IT department to do.”
“Have issue with the IT department do you?” he asked with amusement coloring his voice. At her look, he chuckled. “I’m going to take that fire-filled look as a yes. Care to share what all they have done to make you detest them so much?” He showed around the office areas before taking her down to the main level to show her around there.
“They walk around as if they can do anything when in reality they are just overpaid to tell someone to turn on their computer tower or change toner. When any real crisis happens they have to call in outside help. They are idiots and males, no offence, and think that because they are IT and I’m just a columnist they are wort
h more to the company. Which, if they were a true IT department like you seem to be for your people they would be worth more. As it is they are just morons.”
“Well I won’t argue the point with you. At least these guys all know how to change a toner cartridge. Though it did take a full Saturday session to make them competent,” he said with a wink. Pushing open a door, he ushered her into a room she quickly realized was a gym. There were a couple of guys at one end, one running on a treadmill, and another on a weight machine. At the other end of the room was a large area of mats where another two guys were going at it, hand to hand with someone else sitting on the sidelines making rather goading comments. “Yoshi’s the one kicking ass,” Elliott told her as he led her toward the mats.
“Is he upset for some reason?” she asked with a frown as she watched the man. She couldn’t deny that she found Yoshi attractive. He was just maybe an inch shorter than Elliott, and his heritage was clear in the color of his hair and eyes. She enjoyed watching him move, a great deal. “He’s very effective isn’t he? He seems to know every move that the other man is going to make.” Harker, if she wasn’t mistaken, the man who was sparring with Yoshi at the moment.
“Yoshi takes his martial arts seriously. Trains at least two hours a day when at all possible. His father started him in one discipline when he was a child after a school yard fight left him with a bloody nose. Not so that Yoshi could beat up the bully, but so he could avoid more bloody noses by defending himself in a manner that left them both intact. Yoshi’s father believed that if you knew the moves your opponent would throw at you, you could block them. That’s all he learned for a number of years, blocking I mean. Pure defense. It wasn’t until he grew older and became more disciplined in keeping his temper in control that his father finally began to instruct him in the offensive moves. He’s very good, much better than most of us by a long shot. Markham’s one of the few that can go toe to toe with Yoshi for any length of time at all, but even he eventually gets put on his ass. Which is why we insist on all being in here when we know those two are going at it. We bring popcorn and everything.”
She was laughing by the time he finished explaining what happened. “Oh goodness gravy that’s too funny. He’s rather good. He moves like liquid,” she said as she watched Yoshi moving. “He’s incredible.” She watched the man as he moved and she liked it, a great deal. He was a handsome man, that much was for sure. Then again, as she looked at the men around the room she noticed that they were all very handsome. “Did Uncle Sam dip you all in the sexy sea before he let you all loose?” She was teasing him, mostly.
“Genetics, babe, it’s all genetics.” He gave her the slow grin that made her knees wobble before leading her over to where the one man was sitting. “Clara, this is Slater Markham. Markham, this is Clara Smith. He’s obviously down here trying desperately to figure out a way to beat Yoshi.”
“Ma’am.” The team’s sniper got to his feet to shake her hand. “Don’t make me take you out on those mats, Timmons. Be a shame to embarrass you in front of the lovely lady.”
Clara grinned and nodded. “I’ve seen you in the field.” Shit, wait, she wasn’t supposed to say that. She felt herself blushing. Yes, she wasn’t supposed to admit that she had hacked their video feeds that went back to the Pentagon. “Please don’t bruise, Elliott. I’ve just gotten back into his life for the first time in a number of years, so please don’t hurt him until he pisses me off?”
“What? No!” Elliott protested.
Slater smiled at her slowly and nodded. “Deal. You just say the word and I’ll handle the rest. Care to pull up a seat to watch Harker get his ass handed to him?” He indicated the spot on the bench next to him.
“Sure.” Clara took the seat next to Markham and looked up at Elliott and smirked. “Come on, have a seat next to me?” So that she could lean against him hopefully and be able to get a play by play of what might or might not happen next.
Shooting Slater a dirty look, Elliott sat beside her, wrapping his arm around her waist. “You do not need to ever call him, ever. I happen to like all my parts right where they are thank you very much,” he muttered in her ear.
“As if I ever would. You know that,” she muttered and leaned into his warm embrace. “I was just giving you a hard time,” she assured him and then winced when Yoshi made another move. “Oh crapballs that had to hurt,” she whispered and leaned into Elliott. When Yoshi looked their way, she grinned and made a small wave to him. Yep, she was attracted to him.
It was the opening Harker was looking for apparently. He made a sweeping motion with his leg, catching Yoshi at the ankles, but the man didn’t hit the mats. Instead he twisted, planted a hand, and did a flip. As he regained his footing, he spun around to plant a foot in Harker’s chest, sending the other man onto the mat with a loud grunt.
Clara gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. “Crap. Sorry,” she muttered. She had distracted Yoshi. She hadn’t meant to but she had. That wasn’t good. “Are you sure that it’s okay for us to be here?” she asked Elliott without taking her eyes off of Yoshi. She couldn’t seem to be able to tear her eyes from him.
“It’s fine. Harker’s the one getting the brunt of it all,” he told her with a chuckle. “Yoshi’s a lot like a slinky. No matter what you do to him, he always ends upright. Or maybe like a cat landing always on his feet.” He squeezed her closer to him and pressed a kiss to her temple.
“Or buttered bread, always lands butter side up.” She got into the teasing right along with him. “Well whatever he is, he’s certainly impressive. That man has moves.” She tilted her head to the side and watched him. “Oh that’s sneaky,” she whispered. “He’s using their momentum against them. It’s like dancing, he’s using their force to propel them into whatever he wants them to do. That’s bloody brilliant.”
“He doesn’t have as much muscle mass as some of the guys on the team, or those he goes up against so he uses whatever he has available. Part of learning how to read the movements of your opponent is knowing where their center of balance will end up at the end of the move. It also allows him to keep fighting while his opponents tire themselves out. Because he’s using their own momentum against them he doesn’t tire as quickly. An angry opponent is the best kind because they tend to forget training, and just swing madly at you.”
“Same with hacking. If you get them angry enough they will mess up and open their whole world to you without even realizing it.” She didn’t speak again, instead watched and waited.
“Very much so,” he said softly. Stroking his hand over her arm, Elliott stayed quiet while Yoshi played with Harker some more. Finally Harker ended on his back again. But this time he stayed there and cried uncle. Yoshi went over to help him to his feet, patting his back, and then came toward them while Harker limped off the mats toward a sign that indicated the bathrooms, and what she guessed was the showers, too.
Clara looked up at Yoshi and smiled. “You really put them through their paces don’t you?” she asked and held her hand out to him. “I’m Clara.” She found herself wanting to touch him. Wanting to know how his hands would feel. She had a feeling they would be callused like Elliott’s were, and strong.
“Craig Yoshi,” he said, taking her hand in his. “I try to make them work for it. Markham’s one of the few around here that makes me work for it, though. Sneaky sniper that he is, he’s very good at turning my own techniques against me.” He gave her hand a squeeze, before letting it go slowly.
“We’re heading out for lunch. If you get ready fast enough you’re welcome to come along,” Elliott said to the man.
“Give me five minutes,” Craig said. “That’s if it’s okay with the lady of course. I know you two are old friends so I don’t want to be stepping on any toes.”
“The lady would be very happy to have you join us.” Clara spoke for Elliott. “It’s nice to finally meet you. Now, go and do what you need to and I’m going to let Elliott show me a move or two for self-defense.”
<
br /> Both Elliot and Slater snorted at that. Likely for very different reasons.
“I’ll be back shortly then,” Craig said with a grin. Shaking his head, he headed for the showers.
“What, why did you both snort like that?” Clara turned to look at Elliott as she asked that question. “And should I not have invited him? Was I being too forward?” She was not known for her patience, never had been. She also didn’t realize that Elliot invited Craig first.
“Not at all, sweetheart. That is definitely more than fine. Besides, I did invite him first, you just ensured he knew he was welcome to come along with us. I snorted because what I know about self-defense is minimal compared to the others. Not saying I haven’t managed to keep myself alive, barely.”
“But he tends to do it while screaming like a little girl,” Slater muttered.
“I resent that comment.”
“No, you resemble it, Timmons. If the lady wants some self-defense training I’d get your cohort to teach her. Hell, get the janitor to teach her,” he advised. He threw her a wink and grinned to let her know he was messing with Elliott.
“I’m not that bad. I just know where my strengths lay, and in hand to hand is not the best of places. I tend to get distracted,” Elliott said for her benefit. “I know a bit, quite a bit, but well you know.”
“Yeah, I know.” Clara felt the same. She was better behind a computer than she was anywhere else. “Give me a computer and I’m deadly, give me a gun and I might shoot myself by accident.” Which, sadly, was true.
“Do not give the woman a gun,” Slater said. “At least Timmons knows what to do with one.” He got to his feet and held a hand out to her. “Come on, I’ll show you a couple quick things. They work well for people that are a little shorter, and have the lower center of gravity like you do.”
She kicked off her shoes and smirked. “Yes, I’m short but I’m good with it. I like being the size that I am. I’m unassuming,” she said with a smirk. She tucked her hair back behind her ear and stepped onto the mat with the rather large man. “Okay, what are you going to show me?”
