by Desiree Holt
“I think that’s a given,” Hank told her. “Especially after today. You never thought anyone would kill Justine, did you? They’ve gotten away with it for ten years. Now you’re shaking up their safe little world. Of course they want to get rid of you.”
For a very brief moment, Sean saw fear flash in her eyes. Then it was gone.
Tough. He liked that, even as he considered the danger she was putting herself in. And had to battle the shocking feelings for her flooding him.
“So. Exactly how, then, is this going to work?” she demanded.
“Like I just said, you’ll stay here, not at your apartment.” Sadie’s voice was firm. “And Sean will be like a second skin. Hank and I already discussed it.”
Zoe lifted an eyebrow. “You and Hank did? Without me?”
“Yes, and shut up about it. I am not going to lose a very special friend to some nutcase. How lucky it is that Sean arrived just at this time. Right?”
“Yeah, right,” she snorted. “How lucky I am to have a protector.”
Feisty, Sean thought. I like that.
“Then it’s agreed.” Hank gave her a piercing look. If you go anywhere, Sean will take you. Period.”
Again Sean sensed she was about to object, maybe even to him, but then apparently decided to leave the argument for now.
“Yes. Agreed.”
He had to wonder if she was thinking about last night as much as he was, and how they’d handle that. Did she just want to forget it happened? Could she? Because he was having a hard time wiping it from his brain, which for him was very unusual.
Sadie grinned. “So, as I said, let’s have lunch. Zoe, if it’s okay with you, while we eat you can give us a better version of what’s going on. And maybe fill us in on stuff we might not know. Then I think you and Sean should talk, so he’s filled in on everything about the case, all the way back to Justine’s murder.”
“Nail on the head.” Hank threw an arm around his wife. “But first, let’s eat.”
Zoe blew out a breath then looked around the table at everyone. Again, Sean wondered if she was going to object, but instead she managed a little smile.
“Okay. But at the risk of repeating myself yet again, I get a voice in how we do this. I can’t be restricted in my work. This is a very special project to me.”
“I hear you.” Hank nodded in agreement, even if a little bit reluctantly. “Whatever you say.”
But Sean figured the man was only smoothing the waters so they could have a decent meal together. Zoe might be accepting what Hank was telling her, but he wondered if anyone but him noticed the stiffening of her spine or the tiny set of her jaw. The firecracker who had set his sheets ablaze last night didn’t appear to be someone easily pushed aside. He could hardly wait to see what came next.
Chapter 4
He liked to think of himself as the Invisible Man, able to come and go about his business in such a way no one paid a lot of attention to what was really going on. They were all so used to seeing him one way that they never looked for anything else. He was very good at blending in. At hiding in plain sight. People saw what they wanted to see. Period. It not only helped with certain aspects of his work but also with what he liked to call his tasty side pieces.
He’d learned long ago that one woman alone was never enough to satisfy all his appetites. He had multiple tastes, especially in bed, and no one female was ever going to be enough to satisfy them. He’d tried with his wife. Really tried. Wanted to make the marriage work but something was just missing from it. As accommodating as Julia was, he’d learned there was a whole side of himself he had to keep hidden from her. He hadn’t wanted the complication of having to conceal a relationship, but what was he to do? Divorce was definitely not a possibility, not with everything else to consider.
He thought he managed things very well, and he had, until Justine DeLuca. He’d thought the attention he gave her would be enough to keep her in line, but she couldn’t keep from sticking her damn attorney’s nose into private areas of his life. Asking questions he hadn’t wanted to answer about women and money. It had all boiled over in one massive eruption of frustration, and he’d lost control, something he never did.
He’d been so sure everything had died down and faded away. Just one more unsolved case. He’d moved on with his life and his career, sure that that particular devil was destroyed. Apparently, it was going to haunt him forever, unless he figured out how to get rid of that nosy bitch, Zoe Young. So she was going to write a book about this. Fuck. He did not need that at all.
He needed to figure this out. Find a way to stop her that would not raise any suspicions. He’d hoped the little present he’d left in her apartment and the words he’d painted on her car would make her think twice about proceeding with this book. He’d watched to see her reaction while she entered her apartment. He’d waited for a scream, or for her to run out. Something. Anything. Instead, that fucker Hank Patterson had shown up seconds later and just taken charge.
Oh yeah, he knew all about Hank Patterson and his fucking Brotherhood Protectors. Arrogant former SEALs who thought they owned the world. Well, he could take care of them and that bitch Zoe Young, too. He’d just have to plan carefully. And stay invisible.
While Zoe and Sadie shared one last cup of coffee, Hank took Sean through what he called the war room of Brotherhood Protectors. Leading the way to a door, he pressed his thumb to a bio scanner and waited for a door to slide open. Stairs led down to a cool, white hallway that opened out into a wide room. One wall was lined with computers, keyboards, and an array of monitors. Two men working in front of the array of monitors smiled as Hank introduced Sean but kept right on working.
Hank nudged Sean toward another door. “Come on.”
He led them into another room and switched on the light.
Hank nodded his head at the items on the wall. “Weapons. Whatever we need. We like to be prepared.”
Sean blinked at the impressive array of weapons of all shapes and brands, from AR-15s to .40 caliber pistols. He had to admit his cousin had created a top-notch situation. He was very impressed with the setup here. They could manage a small war from this facility.
“Can I just say,” he told Hank, “I’m impressed that you have all this, but I hope you never have to use it.”
Hank gave a little snort. “I’m with you there.”
Sean shifted uncomfortably. “Listen, Hank, I appreciate all this, but —”
“Don’t say anything yet,” Hank told him. “Let it soak in. As long as you accept the job protecting Zoe until we resolve this situation, I think we’re all comfortable with that. Meanwhile, you can get used to the area.”
“Okay.” He couldn’t find fault with the idea.
Hank clapped him on the shoulder. “Let’s go back upstairs.”
The women were still sitting in the kitchen with their coffee. Zoe lifted an eyebrow, a questioning look on her face.
“That’s some damn setup,” Sean commented. “They’re prepared for any kind of emergency or situation.”
“Hank’s pretty proud of it,” Sadie agreed, grinning.
“I’m going to call Alex Rossi and see if he’s got time for us right now,” Hank told them, then wandered out to the porch to make his call. Two minutes later he was back inside. “He’s out until about three o’clock. That means we have time now for you and Zoe to sit down together after lunch. Zoe, I want you to tell Sean every single detail of this book you’re working on about your friend Justine’s murder. And by the way, if you’ve had any other incidents so we can be prepared.”
“Got it.”
“Okay, let’s get you and Zoe together so she can tell you everything from the beginning.”
Sean was sure doing this job was going to take every ounce of his self-control. Just sitting at the table with Zoe Young was exquisite torture. Be with her twenty-four seven? Holy shit. He’d have to do something about his dick before it became embarrassing. Despite the heat that had nearly inci
nerated them the night before, he had no idea if she even wanted to remember it.
She’d looked so stressed last night when she’d walked into Red’s, and he certainly knew that feeling. When you found someone who could help that feeling, especially if you never expected to see them again, it was very easy to drop all boundaries. Been there, done that. But last night was old business. He’d better remember that a woman like Zoe Young wasn’t about to hook up with a damaged, used-up ex-military castoff. At least that was how he saw himself these days.
He swallowed a sigh. Maybe a cold shower after they finished here because it didn’t look like mental discipline was going to work.
The weather was nice, so Sadie suggested they sit out on the porch. Sean felt a little less claustrophobic than he did inside, and he could tell Zoe liked being outside, too.
“I think this is overkill,” she told him, “but I have to admit after the two episodes today I suppose I can’t argue with the need for some kind of security.”
“Thank god you’re not putting up a fight on this.” One corner of his mouth lifted in a bare hint of a smile. “At least not too badly.”
She ignored his last remark and busied herself opening the document on her laptop.
“Let me just pull up my notes. I want you to know how important this is to me. ”
He studied her for a long moment, the tension zipping through her body very obvious. What would Hank tell her about him? Would he give her all the ugly details of what nearly destroyed him? How long could he keep burying them? And what would she think when she knew all about him?
He was still wrestling with the shock that last night, out of nowhere, something invisible had connected them. Something he hadn’t felt with another person since before the disaster that ended his career as a SEAL. It was more than sexual attraction. Emotions he hadn’t felt in a long, long time had grabbed at him. He still wasn’t sure how to deal with it. The safest thing for him would have been to turn around when he saw her with Hank and run back to New Mexico. But he was tired of running. Maybe it was time to try and heal. And maybe this woman was the one who could help him.
As if!
It was a difficult problem to wrestle with but, in that instant, he made a decision to come clean with his situation. And once he got that out, to say something about the previous night before hiding it blew up in their faces. If it ended up she didn’t want him doing this, or she regretted last night, then Hank could find her somebody else. But he knew if he didn’t it would pop up when he least needed it to. And he was probably about to add to it, but he had to get it out there. Something unexpected inside him was pushing him.
“Zoe.” He finally broke the silence. “Are we going to just ignore the elephant in the room?”
She looked at him, the heat in her eyes warring with uncertainty.
He waited but when she didn’t say anything, he just jumped right in. It had to be brought out into the open.
“Fine. I’ll go first. We’ll just get this out of the way right now.”
After a long moment, she said, “Okay.”
He raked his fingers through his hair. “First of all, before we even get to last night, you should know the truth about me.” He blew out a breath. “I’m a fucking mess. No other way to state it. Have been for weeks. Cards on the table, I’ve been dealing with a lot of, uh, challenges since my discharge. Bitching about life, about my discharge from the SEALs and yeah, wallowing in my misery. That turned out to be a comfortable place to be. I know I’ve been driving people around me nuts. Not a big surprise, right?”
“Sean,” she began.
He held up a hand. “Tried hanging out in my hometown, but that didn’t work out too well. Then, out of the blue, Hank called me to come out here. I still don’t know why I accepted, only that I didn’t know what else to do with my life. I dragged my feet getting here, but he kept calling me. Shit. He’s a hard man to turn down.”
Zoe snorted a little laugh. “Tell me about it.”
“The reason I was in Helena,” he went on, staring down at his hands, “is because I was on my way to Eagle Rock. Hank practically browbeat me into it. Daring me to get my shit together.” He shook his head. “He’s a hard man to refuse.”
Zoe’s sweet lips curved in a tiny smile.
“Tell me about it.”
Sean swallowed a sigh. “He rubbed his jaw. “But Zoe, last night just blew my mind.”
“Oh?” She studied his face, her own expressionless. “What do you mean? Is that good or bad?”
“I’d say both. I hated to see you go this morning, but I knew it was for your own good. I’m just a piece of junk right now.” He rubbed his jaw. “I mean, it wasn’t just the best sex I’ve had since I can remember. It was more than that. We made a connection. You can try to tell me I’m wrong, Zoe, but you know you’d be lying. And it scared the ever-lovin’ shit out of me.” He paused. “Listen. I’m nobody’s prize package right now. I have really bad days. My body doesn’t always work the way I want it to. You got a look at it last night.” He looked off in the distance. “And truth to tell, I still have nightmares.”
“Sean.”
He held up a hand. “So there it is. You want every ugly detail? I don’t know if I can give it to you. I’m not sure I’m ready to talk about it yet. But you have the right to know what you’re getting into.”
She ran her tongue over her lower lip, the effect on his dick nearly destroying him. He wasn’t even sure he wanted to hear what she had to say.
“Listen to me. I’m smart enough to know you’re in a bad place right now. In a way, I’m not doing so good myself, although my emotional glitch is nothing compared to yours. But here’s the thing. For Hank to set me up with a different bodyguard now would mean answering a lot of questions I don’t think either one of us wants to deal with. He’s determined, and you already know the score.”
He dipped his head. “You got that right. I’m wondering if I got pulled out here for a reason. Maybe this is a way for me to finally put all the nightmares to rest but, the thing is, I can’t be sure.”
“As for last night? I don’t know what to say, either. I’m not in the habit of…of…”
“Hopping into bed with strange men you met in a bar?”
Heat scorched her face. “I-I— Yes. That’s what I meant.”
“Did you ever think Fate meant some things to happen? I’m not a big believer in it myself, but maybe that’s what last night was all about. We don’t have to talk it to death. But I don’t want to forget it, either, and I haven’t said that in a long time. We’re going to be together practically twenty-four seven so you know we can’t ignore it. I say let’s see what happens but keep our expectations low, okay?”
“Listen.” She rested her hand on his arm. It took everything he had not to pull it away. “I’m so focused on this book and turning over every rock I can find to get answers that I’m probably going to be a real pain in the ass to you. But here’s the thing. I’m going to do this no matter what. A close friend of mine, a wonderful woman, is dead, and no one but me seems to give a single damn. I’m not stopping until I get some answers. If you can live with my situation, I can live with yours. And we can just see where it all goes between us. You’re right. Last night was…exceptional. Besides, something inside me trusts you, and I need that right now.”
His lips curved in a lopsided grin. “As long as you don’t try to sneak out on me.”
They stared at each other for a long moment, then Zoe nodded and gave him an answering smile. It was a tiny one, but a smile just the same, and Sean felt a band around his chest loosen.
“Good.” He let out a breath. “Glad we got that settled. So, let’s get down to business here. Go back over the timeline starting with Justine’s murder and then all the newer stuff. The phone calls and shit. Don’t leave anything out.”
She nodded, once.
“I know this probably isn’t what you figured you’d be doing when Hank asked you to come here,” she
said, slowly. “And I’m not all that excited about the situation, either. But…”
She sighed.
“But,” he picked up, “it’s better than turning up dead.”
Her face lost all its color, and he was sorry he’d been such a smartass.
“You don’t have to worry about that.” He managed a grin. “SEALs never fail.”
Her answering smile was weak but there, nevertheless.
“Okay. Then let me tell you everything I know. Everything I’ve been able to find out. It might give you some idea who’s doing this, something I didn’t see.” She pulled up the first of her notes on her laptop.
An hour later, Sadie brought coffee to them, and Hank walked out behind her. Sean was glad for the break. He could see she was exhausted from talking about it.
“Zoe.” Sadie shook her head. “The more I think about this, the more I’m convinced you should think twice about writing this book. Someone really doesn’t want you to do it.”
Sean watched her body stiffen and her jaw tighten.
“All the more reason I should be writing it. This just means somehow, somewhere in the past couple of weeks I’ve turned over a rock, and something’s popped up. I just wish I knew what it was.”
“If you did, we could put a watch on whoever it is,” Hank pointed out. “Make sure that’s who’s behind this and see if he or she has anyone else involved.”
Zoe sighed. “If only it were that easy.”
“I didn’t know you then,” Sadie said, “but from what you’ve told me, Justine was a very close friend.”
“My best friend. There wasn’t anything we wouldn’t do for each other.”
Sean certainly knew what that was like. It was the same way he felt about the other SEALs on his team. Which meant he really had to be on the alert because nothing was going to stop her from following through on this.
“Okay.” Sean took a slug of his coffee. “You’ve told me all about what went on the day she disappeared and who you talked to afterward. What about before that? When you talked to her on the phone, did she seem distracted about anything? Worried? Upset?”
