by Terry Spear
Moving her leg underneath the bedcovers in an effort to run after the redhead, woke her. She opened her eyes. It was time to dance with Dave, but her body still felt weary as if she’d been running all night—the redhead taunting her nightmares. She dragged herself out of bed.
***
Later that night, the agents and Deidre shared a supper.
She slipped her knife through her steak, then turned to Dave. “Did you get some rest, too?”
Bill cleared his throat. “He slept like a baby, only disturbing the quiet with an occasional snore.”
She smiled, pleased to hear Dave had slept so well.
Dave gave his friend a dark smile.
After finishing her last morsel of steak dripping with blood, she rested her fork on her plate. “Is everybody going dancing?”
Dave nodded. “Yep. We stick together. Of course, just you and I get to dance, and Charlie and Marilyn, too. The others will watch to see no one gets out of hand. The boss figured having us stay at a joint like this would throw the killers off. More security here, too. The hotel staff has already been alerted of our business here.”
She stood as he pulled her chair out for her. Then she reached up and tied his tie. “You know, cowboy, you look pretty spiffy in these duds.”
He looked down at her legs. “You look pretty good yourself.”
“I’ll say,” Bill said. “The next time I want to be the boss and get the girl.”
“Sure, Bill. I’ve already got mine. You can have the next one.”
“On second thought, I wouldn’t mind having your girl. She’s more of a known quantity.”
Deidre smiled broadly. Little did he know just how different she was and how much of an unknown quantity she really was. “Dave says the two of you have known each other for years.”
“Yeah, we even attended the same high school.”
That must have been fun. She wondered what it would have been like if she had dated Dave back then. No good. He’d have learned she was one of the weirdest kids in school—all because of her visions.
A rap at their door made Dave, Johnson, and Bill pull their guns from their holsters.
Bill twisted the knob, then jerked the door open.
Marilyn twirled around in her stiletto heels as Charlie stood slightly behind her. “Hey, guys, ready to dance?”
Dave escorted Deidre out of the room, his hand gripping hers as if he never wanted to be torn from her again. And she loved the feeling, wishing it could last forever. “All right folks, let’s go.”
***
Dave glanced around at the lounge and dance floor—overstated elegance. Chandeliers featuring tons of crystals hung overhead, golden lights providing enough illumination in the darkness to offer a romantic ambience.
The lights reflected off Deidre’s pale blond hair, her toned body moving in the slinky black formal like it had been made just for her. He couldn’t wait to hold her close and dance like he did with her at the Texas club.
No matter where Deidre was, she looked like she belonged. Whether it was on a gray sandy beach, building sand castles, sleeping on a tower of sand in the middle of a night at a Florida safe house, dancing with him in a Texas dance club filled with powerful music and colorful lights against a black backdrop, or here in sheer elegance, she fit like a natural.
The guys had ribbed him that he must have confiscated the photo headquarters sent of her and replaced it with a different picture, because she didn’t look anything like that photo. Not even when strands of muddy kelp clung to her wet hair, or when she was lying in a hospital bed wearing one of their designer gowns.
He’d fielded the shakes of heads and small smiles the other agents gave him when they saw her in the black shimmering gown—with him. He didn’t mind. Like Bill said, Dave had gotten the girl.
He guided Deidre to a table big enough for four, while Marilyn and Charlie joined them. Deidre drank a Tom Collins and Charlie worked on a beer while Dave and Marilyn drank bottled water. The rest of the agents scattered as they watched the crowd.
As soon as the music started another waltz, Dave pulled Deidre from her chair and led her to the dance floor. Without hesitation, he drew her close and whispered in her ear, “You know you drive me to distraction, don’t you?”
“All the guys tell me that.”
He dipped her back carefully, and she squealed in surprise and laughed. Loving her sense of humor, he shook his head at her. “You haven’t been with that many men.”
“Says who?”
His lips turned up in a devilish grin. “Your brother. You love me, don’t you?” Without waiting for an answer as she raised her brows at him, he added, “I’m concerned about you, Deidre. You seem to be bothered by migraines.”
She chuckled, sounding like she was relieved. “No, thank goodness for that. Sometimes I kind of have a little bit of tension tugging at my temple.”
“Oh.” He twirled her around. “Charlie really seemed concerned about it.”
“He’s overly protective.”
“Are you certain there’s nothing more to it? You seem totally distracted when one of these spells comes on.”
This was it. The moment of truth. Dave wasn’t a reporter. He wouldn’t tell her boss about her visions. He probably wouldn’t even believe her. Rarely did anyone unless they knew for certain she couldn’t know something and then they couldn’t refute it.
Sometimes, she found the best way to diffuse a situation was to be blatantly truthful. She leaned her head against his shoulder, and he moved her slowly across the dance floor. “Yes, well, the truth is I can see glimpses of the future. It’s totally distracting.”
Dave didn’t do what he was supposed to do. He didn’t laugh. He didn’t even chuckle. He slowed his already slow step and leaned his head against hers. “I thought so,” he said softly.
She laughed. “You know, Dave, you’re pretty cute. Want to be my permanent bodyguard?”
“That’s the best offer I’ve had all year. How much does the job pay?”
“You mean I’d have to pay you, too?”
Deidre closed her eyes as her forehead tightened. Blast these visions. She fought the picture trying to poke its way into her subconscious. Her temple hurt with fighting the image. She gripped Dave’s hand tighter to avoid the temptation to stroke her wrinkled brow. He kissed her hand, and she lightened her touch.
The man, whose black hair grayed at the temples, tilted his head back and took a gulp of his drink. His flushed face turned red. He gasped for air.
Deidre turned her attention to the men seated about the bar and tables drinking their drinks. She didn’t see the man in her vision. Either he hadn’t arrived yet, or he was dancing. She surveyed the dancers, but couldn’t see all of the men on the other side of the dance floor in the darkened club.
Dave kissed her cheek. “Something wrong?”
He’d noticed her looking for the man. She realized her posture had tensed, and she immediately relaxed in his arms. Still, he didn’t take his eyes off her.
The man reappeared in her head. The night was going to drag on at this rate. If he could just do whatever it was he was going to do, she could notify someone to help him. Then she’d enjoy the rest of the time with Dave wholly undistracted.
She took another look at the tables, then rested her head against Dave. “Are your ribs okay for me to do this?”
“The upper ones are fine. It’s the lower ones that hurt slightly.”
“But when we took Ricky into the hospital, the doctor said your ribs were okay?”
“Just bruised, luckily.”
He brushed her cheek, and she turned her mouth up to meet his. Grinning, he obliged with a warm and willing kiss, his hands stroking down her arms, her hands cupping his face for more. She wanted to give into what she felt for him. If she wasn’t his responsibility, if he couldn’t be pulled from the case if he took this too far with her, she wanted to…
What? Make love to him?
Yeah, that’s just what s
he wanted to do. And she wanted him to make love to her right back, just as passionately as she thought he’d be if the way he’d kissed her before was any indication.
He wasn’t holding her quite as close as he’d been in the Texas club. She wasn’t sure if that was because he was really hurting, or because more of his men were here, and he had to play it by the books a little more. But she loved the way he moved with her to the tune and dreamed what it would be like to be old and gray and still dancing with the cowboy like this.
When the dance finished, Dave waited with her on the floor. As soon as the music played another slow waltz, he moved her across the dance stage again. His leg slipped in between hers as if he claimed her for his own. Okay, so maybe he was just working up to getting close again. She could deal with that. She welcomed his attentions as she pressed closer to him, felt that part of his anatomy rise to the occasion whenever they were in close proximity like this.
Then the vision began again. She ground her teeth.
She should have stopped dancing to sip her drink, anything to allow her time to focus on the visions and the danger that lay ahead. But Dave wouldn’t have wanted to stop, not when they played the kind of music where he could hold her really close. And she couldn’t explain that what she saw was true. A glimpse of a very real future event.
The man was choking. Nobody noticed. Everyone around him busied themselves watching the dancers. No one saw.
Deidre twisted her head too quickly and winced in pain. Then she saw the man in his forties bent over his small round table, gasping for air.
“Be right back.”
Before Dave could respond, she pulled away from him and dashed through the dancers to the man who was choking.
Deidre wrapped her arms around the man’s waist and locked her hands into a doubled fist below his ribcage. Pressing into his abdomen three times with a quick upward thrust, she finally dislodged the pretzel. Clapping resounded and she looked up to see the agents surrounding her while Dave stared at her.
Yeah, now did he really believe?
Certain the man would be all right, she hurried to take Dave’s hand. She led him back to the dance floor where the band music had abruptly ceased.
There would be no more interruptions for the night as she snuggled close to him. This was what she desired from him more than anything else in the world at the moment—his arms wrapped around her in a loving embrace and never letting go.
He leaned over and kissed her head. “How do you do it?”
“Do what, Dave?”
He sighed deeply. “It’s my job to rescue people. How do you manage to always do it?”
She laughed. “All right. I promise I’ll let you have the next case.”
“You know, I’m serious about Hawaii.”
“Sure you are. I can see the whopper of a bill I’d have after paying for our rooms and meals and drinks and well, whatever else we wanted to shell out the money for.” She smiled at him as he grinned at her.
“Could be an education. We could take a trip to the Pearl Harbor Memorial.”
“Yes, I’ve always wanted to see that.”
He nestled his cheek against hers. “Why would you think I’d want you to have Marilyn as your roommate?”
“You know, just because you barged into my bathroom to kill a snake, and slept on my couch and yours, doesn’t mean I’m going to take this any farther.”
He laughed. “You can’t resist me anymore than I can resist you.”
“You’re right of course. It’s a terrible struggle. But life isn’t always easy. Take that awful boss of mine—”
“Leave the service. You could shack up with me in my condo.”
“If you didn’t already hurt so, I’d slug you for that remark. I’m not the shack-up kind of girl.”
Dave laughed, then groaned.
“Serves you right.” Deidre stroked his cheek, then held him close, her head resting against his chest, her arms fastened securely around his body. For now, he was all hers.
When the dance club closed for the night, Deidre sauntered back to the room with her arm looped through Dave’s. She sighed deeply. “About the sleeping arrangements—”
“Already arranged.”
She looked up at him. “Oh?”
“I’ll sleep in your room. Johnson and Bill will take turns sleeping in the living area.”
“There’s only one bed in my room.”
Dave waggled his brows up and down.
“You’re sleeping on the floor?”
He chuckled. “A cot. The things I do for you.”
***
Dave had to continually remind himself he was on a job and that seducing Deidre was not part of the mission. But damn, if that was getting to be harder to keep in mind. The longer Dave was with Captain Deidre Roux, the more he wanted to be with her for the long term. She was fun, sexy, and great, if he ever needed a rescue. He loved everything about her. She cared so much for her brother, protecting him, loving him. Most of all, he loved her sense of humor.
He still worried about her headaches. When he’d talked to her brother, believing she wouldn’t want Dave to know anything about it, Charlie had waffled. He said she didn’t have migraines, but there was something he wasn’t telling him. Something.
He thought of her remark about having future visions. He didn’t believe in stuff like that. He figured she was teasing him, like she often did. Yet, he couldn’t help thinking about all the crises they’d been through. The way she’d looked into the swimming pool at her apartment complex, Charlie at her side, worried about her. Saying nothing was there. Asking if she wanted to return to her room. And then her finding the nearly drowned boy.
Her knowing the man was coming for them as Dave returned her to the hospital, asking if he had his gun right before the guy caused their accident. He assumed she’d seen the truck before he had. But she couldn’t have. The truck wasn’t there when she’d made the comment.
When they were in New Hampshire, she had asked if his gun was loaded. The comment was loaded—and that had made the guys all think of sexual innuendoes and how much he would have loved to have taken her someplace private to show her his loaded weapon. But she’d told them they were in for trouble and right afterward, they were, the vehicle attempting to ram them if it hadn’t been for Johnson’s fancy driving that kept them from colliding with it.
Her warning cry, too, before the tree fell into the windows, as she told them to run away when everyone rushed to see what made the awful sound out back of the safe house in Florida during the storm. She wasn’t even in the same room, couldn’t have seen what was about to happen.
She warned them about the washout of the bridge as they’d tried to cross it. No one had seen what they were in for, yet she knew, warned them in a panic to back up, to get them out of there right before they were hit by the onslaught of the river.
Yet, was it just mere coincidence? No one could have future visions. He didn’t think.
When he had held her close on the dance floor, he couldn’t help thinking about the towel slipping off her body while she was trying to keep the snake held at bay. She was a total distraction. Yet, there was something about her. Something unusual that he couldn’t quite figure out.
Had she seen the man choking while they danced? Or had she seen it happen before…it happened? He had to learn the truth.
She was reluctant to make a commitment to him though. No way was he giving up on them. He knew she loved him. Her smile when he asked her if she did convinced him of that. But she could be stubborn about her career. He could be more stubborn. She was the only one for him, and he’d prove he was the same for her.
***
That evening with the brilliant white moon smiling down on them, Deidre floated with Dave in the pool, their arms wrapped around each other, just relaxing, loving the incredibly beautiful moment. “How did you ever manage to get the management to agree to open the pool this late for us?”
“My charming wa
ys.” He kissed away a water droplet on her cheek.
“Your badge, don’t you mean?”
“It certainly can help.”
“I’m surprised Charlie and Marilyn didn’t join us.”
“Marilyn had to get her sleep. She’s got guard duty later tonight.”
“Ah, and Charlie?”
Dave smiled. “Guess he needed a little sleep, too.”
Bill and Johnson sat back in their chaise lounges while they stared at the lights twinkling in the buildings across the city. Turning her head to Dave’s touch, she reached for his fingers tracing her throat.
He intertwined his fingers with hers and raised them to his lips. “Their attention’s occupied.”
“I can see. You had this pretty well planned.”
“Most assuredly.”
“Not a bad job at all.”
He chuckled. “There have been quite a few perks this time around, I must admit.” Like a boa constrictor finding his mate, he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. “If I had any doubts before about becoming an agent, when I met you, they all faded away.”
The moment couldn’t have been more touching with his freshly-shaved cheek caressing hers. He considered her hair, then his fingers combed the strands. She’d never been this drawn to a man before and she hated keeping her distance with him, but she kept reminding herself Dave was on a job. And fooling around with him wasn’t part of it. She didn’t want to get him in trouble over her. But he was sure hard to resist.
He leaned her against the pool’s side and kissed her with a hot, sensual fervor as if he was afraid if he didn’t hurry, she’d dissolve into the water and disappear. She felt the hardness of his muscular body pressed against hers, the sexy blitzkrieg of his kisses making her feel beautiful, needed, desirable. And in that instant, she felt reckless, no longer caring. If they had been alone in the rooftop pool with no witnesses about…
His mouth trailed down her throat but as he neared her breast, she stopped his chin with her hand, coming back to her senses. He had a job. She was his duty. He could be reprimanded or fired if she allowed her own rash craving to carry them away.
She kissed his cheek. “Maybe we ought to swim a bit, then head on in.”
