by Lucy Ryder
At least her three brothers had made it—Eric in fatigues on his way home from a mission and Quinn in full US Air Force uniform. They’d made her laugh with their antics and she’d scarcely felt her father’s absence.
Fine. She’d been devastated but she’d finally acknowledged that she was on her own. Her brothers had their own busy lives and their father…well, she could totally take care of herself.
Besides, it was safer not to let people close. It hurt too much when they left.
*
Francis Abigail Bryce was already in their booth, looking like a movie star in her dark blue paramedic jumpsuit. She’d ordered coffee and was sitting there with a faraway expression on her face. And because she looked just a little bit sad, Paige said the first thing that came to her mind as she slid into the booth opposite her.
“You do know that redheads are supposed to have freckles, don’t you?”
“And did you know that people who’ve beaten up late-night intruders with their awesome ninja skills aren’t supposed to look so fresh and perky the next day?” Frankie answered smartly, eyeing Paige with sharp green eyes. “Why do you?”
Paige grimaced. “You heard, huh?”
“That’s like saying have I heard the coastguard is in town,” Frankie snorted, and slid a latte across the table. “I was on duty last night when your call came through. If I hadn’t had an emergency I would have helped you bury the body.”
Paige grinned and lifted her latte in a toast. “You’re the best friend ever. But…” She paused to take a huge gulp, sighing in pleasure when the hot creamy liquid hit her stomach. “As it turned out, he wasn’t dead, just concussed. But breakfast first, I’m starving,” she said as the waitress approached.
Once the waitress left with their order, Frankie demanded a minute-by-minute account of her midnight adventure, laughing when Paige recounted Ty calling her a bossy little smartass and a faerie commando, and snorting indelicately at his manly reaction to pink tape.
“Men are idiots,” Frankie said dryly, “including Ty Reese, so don’t go getting any idiotic ideas about saving him.”
Paige rolled her eyes and waited as the waitress delivered their food. Tyler Reese needed saving about as much as a prowling mountain lion. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t curious about him.
Trying for casually offhand, she said, “So…you do know him?”
“Hmm,” Frankie murmured, looking amused.
“And?” Paige prompted a little impatiently, when her friend took another bite of omelet without replying. “Spill already before I hurt you.”
Frankie nearly choked. “Like you could,” she snorted, wiping her mouth with the napkin Paige shoved at her. “Ty’s right. With those huge exotic eyes and delicate face, you do look like a faerie. If you weren’t my best friend, I’d hate you.”
Paige snorted, “Yeah, right,” because Frankie was one of those exotically beautiful redheads. Smooth creamy skin, thick lustrous hair and…and darn…she looked a million dollars in a swimsuit.
“So…what do you know about him?”
Frankie studied Paige for a moment. “You mean other than he has a thing for stacked blonde Malibu beach babes?”
“Yeah.” Paige sighed, wondering at the rush of intense disappointment at the news. It was a ridiculous reaction to have about a guy who’d broken into her house and scared the heck out of her. Besides, guys like Tyler Reese had genetically built-in radar for beautiful blondes—or redheads—and having grown up with three brothers who’d dated endless lines of stacked blonde bombshells, it was something she thought she’d accepted.
“Other than that. Which is hardly breaking news, by the way. Guys always go for the hot blondes.”
Frankie sighed and said again, “Men are idiots,” and looked miserable, but after a couple of beats she seemed to shake off her strange mood. “He’s not for you.”
That brought Paige up short. Her breakfast abruptly turned to lead in her stomach. “Not that I’m interested or anything,” she said shoving her plate aside, “but what’s wrong with me?”
“It’s not you, it’s him.” Frankie broke off and studied Paige silently before saying, “Okay, maybe it is you.”
Paige didn’t know why the idea that Frankie thought she wasn’t good enough for Tyler Reese hurt so much. She should be used to being ignored, not pretty, sexy or popular enough, but the truth was, it would be nice to be a kick-ass girl they drooled over. Like Frankie—movie-star beautiful and built like an underwear model, only with attitude.
A lot of attitude.
“Oh, don’t look at me like that, honey. I only meant that you’re too open and generous for someone whose mother is the Wicked Ice Witch of the West. Believe me,” she continued when Paige opened her mouth to deny that she was interested in Ty Reese, “I’ve known him my whole life. At one time he, Nate and Jack were inseparable. They did everything together. Including try their stupid moves on everything with breasts. No, jeez,” she snorted. “Even before girls got breasts they were stealing kisses and breaking hearts.” She shook her head. “You don’t want to go there.” After a moment’s silence she said vehemently, “It’d be like stuffing your heart in a mincer and turning it on grind. You don’t deserve that. No one deserves that.”
Paige knew Frankie’s brother Jack had been an army ranger before being KIA a few years ago. She opened her mouth to ask about Nate but was distracted by the odd expression on Frankie’s face.
Concerned, she turned and followed her gaze in time to see three guys entering the diner. They were dressed in US coastguard uniforms and the hotness factor was enough to raise the temperature in the diner by a thousand degrees.
“Who’s that?” she asked curiously, when Frankie made a little sound of distress. She looked stunned. Kind of like she’d run into a wall.
“Huh?”
Paige jerked her chin at the newcomers. “Who’s that?”
Her friend took a deep breath, looking strangely flushed and panicked. “No one,” she muttered, lurching abruptly out of the booth. “Look, I gotta go. I’m teaching a first-aid class in twenty minutes.”
This was news to Paige. “I thought you were off duty for the next few days.” But because Frankie looked so rattled—a look Paige had never seen on her before—she didn’t pursue her sudden suspicion that Frankie knew at least one of the coasties.
Or was maybe running scared?
“JT bailed from the senior center program at the last minute so I said I’d take it. Don’t worry,” she said, when Paige opened her mouth to remind her of their plans. “I haven’t forgotten our hiking trip. Meet you at twelve?”
Paige nodded, her fascinated gaze moving beyond Frankie to the tallest and hottest of the trio and… Oh, wow… Her eyes widened. The tall dangerous coastie…he must be the one her friend was running from because the guy was staring their way, and the abrupt tension emanating from Frankie told Paige there was definite history there.
She must have made a sound because Frankie’s eyes widened and she looked spooked—like she wanted to bolt but was forcing herself to act cool.
“I really have to go,” Frankie said abruptly. “But a word of advice here. Stay away from those guys, Paige. They’re bad news. In fact, stay away from the whole male gender. They suck.”
And with that she spun on her heel and headed for the door.
Fascinated, Paige watched the tall, hot coastie looking granite-faced and dangerous as he contemplated her friend’s stiff departing back.
That’s one hot BAB, she thought, referring to her and Frankie’s name for bad alpha boys. Or was that badass boys? She couldn’t remember because they’d both been a little tipsy at the time.
She could feel the simmering testosterone and attitude from clear across the room. Then he turned and their eyes met. Yikes, she thought, a very bad BAB. And, boy, he had “military” badass written all over him.
Used to dealing with alpha males, Paige narrowed her eyes and mouthed a fierce “I’m watchi
ng you”, feeling invincible because just last night she had taken out an intruder with nothing but a flashlight and her awesome ninja skills.
After a long moment his mouth kicked up at one corner like he found her cute and amusing, and right there, in Sid’s Diner, Paige decided Frankie was right.
Men sucked and Paige was going to have no problem heeding her own as well as Frankie’s advice.
She was going to stay away from men—especially the tall dark cranky ones who broke into people’s houses as easily as they broke women’s hearts.
*
Ty was trying to dry himself one-handed after a shower when he heard pounding on the front door. Wondering if some of the crazy women he’d left LA to escape had tracked him down, he wrapped a towel around his hips and whipped open the bathroom door…coming face to face with—
“Aaaai-ya!”
He ducked just in time to avoid being beaned with a…frying pan?
Reacting without thinking, he shot out a hand and yanked the pan away before Paige Carlyle could take another swing at him.
“What the hell, woman?”
She let rip with an ear-piercing shriek and scrambled backwards, her expression one of shocked surprise. Before Ty could reassure her that he wasn’t a pervert hiding in her shower, the front door crashed open and heavy steps pounded up the stairs.
A large man appeared at the top of the landing in a fighter’s crouch, dark eyes hard and cold, ready to take down the enemy. In that instant Ty’s towel lost the battle and slid to the floor.
The newcomer instantly took in the scene and after a stunned pause visibly relaxed. His mouth kicked up at one corner as he rose to his full height.
“Well, now,” he drawled, hooking the arm of his aviator shades in the neck of his tee-shirt. “Am I missing something, T?”
Ty didn’t know who was more surprised by the frozen tableau on the landing, him, Paige or—
“Nate?”
Slapping a hand to her chest, Paige gasped furiously, “Omigod! What are you doing here?” and collapsed against the banister. She wrapped one arm around the landing rail as though to keep her from sliding to the floor. “I thought you’d left,” she squeaked, her tone rising into the stratosphere. “I thought you’d… Who is he?” She gestured wildly at Nate, nearly whacking herself in the head. “And what the heck is a m-military B-BAB doing in my h-house?”
He and Nathan Oliver—whom Ty had last seen just before he’d deployed to some hotspot six months ago—shared a confused look. “Military BAB?” Ty asked what was on both their minds.
She finally lost her battle with gravity and plopped onto the floor, breathing as though she’d run up the north face of the Olympic Mountains. “I’m still asleep, aren’t I?” she gasped, rubbing the heel of her hand against her chest and clearly on the verge of a coronary. Then she looked up and locked eyes with the part of him at eye level and gave a strangled squeak.
“Omigod!” she gasped, slapping a hand over her eyes. “My eyes.”
Nate snickered as Ty whipped the frying pan up to cover himself. He sent his friend a dark look and turned to apologize but Paige had drawn up her legs and dropped her forehead on her knees. She was breathing heavily and muttering to herself.
“This is just a nightmare, Paige,” he heard her mutter in a singsong voice. “Wake up and take a deep breath.” She made a few gasping sounds. “That’s it…nice and easy.” For several long moments she continued to breathe like she was practicing for the labor ward while he and Nate watched in fascination.
Finally… “There you are. Now you’re going to open your eyes and everything will be back to normal. Nice…and…normal.” Another deep breath, this one less panicked. “No more sexy…naked…men.” She gave a snorting laugh that he was pretty sure was an insult to his manhood. “Or military BABs anywhere. Poof. Gone.”
Ty grimaced and bent to scoop up the towel, managing to wrap it clumsily around his waist before Paige looked up.
“You’re still here,” she accused, taking in the towel clutched at his hips before cutting her eyes to Nate. Arms folded across his chest and leaning casually against the wall, he studied them with a casualness belied by his watchful eyes. “Why are you still here?”
Ty wasn’t sure if she was talking to him or Nate and opened his mouth to apologize but, “You think I’m sexy?” slipped out instead.
Nate snorted rudely and Paige rolled her eyes. “Please. You’ve clearly let yourself go,” she said breathlessly, her gaze cutting to his towel and then sliding away. “You’re a mess.”
Not likely, he thought when Nate laughed with the appreciation of a long-time friend. “You said sexy naked men. And as I’m the only naked one here—”
“Don’t mind him, sweetheart,” Nate interrupted dryly. “He’s always been shy about letting girls see him naked.” He pushed away from the wall and pulled Paige to her feet. “Hi,” he said. “I’m Nate and you must be the cute doctor that took down a dangerous intruder one-handed.”
“It was dark,” Ty growled, wiping water out of his eyes on his equally damp shoulder. “Don’t mind me,” he muttered when Paige allowed herself to be steered towards the stairs. “I’ll be down as soon as I get dressed.”
“Take your time,” Nate called over his shoulder. “Dr. Cutie and I are going to get better acquainted.”
After a couple of beats Ty turned and returned to the bathroom. By the time he descended the stairs, Nate was shoulder-propped against the arch leading into the kitchen, sipping coffee.
“Still spreading joy and happiness everywhere you go, I see,” his friend drawled laconically.
“And you’re still trying—and failing, I might add—to look like the coolest kid on the block.”
Nathan Oliver chuckled. “I don’t have to try any more, T, it just comes naturally. You, on the other hand, look like sh—”
“Yeah, yeah,” he interrupted, catching Paige’s quick furtive sideways look and the faint flush staining her cheeks. “I know exactly how I look.”
“I heard you got beaten up by a girl and just had to see for myself.” He chuckled at the exasperated sound Paige made in the back of her throat and reached out to ruffle her hair. “Did a good job on him too.”
Ty’s eyes cut to Paige, wondering at the casual way his friend had touched her. “I already looked like this before a crazy person jumped me and tried to beat me up with a flashlight.”
She heaved a huge sigh and Ty could almost hear her eyes roll around in her head. He moved into the kitchen and purposely crowded her as he went for the coffeepot, biting back a smile when she sucked in a sharp breath and scuttled out of his way, muttering what sounded like, “He’s just a stupid BAB, Paige. Get a grip.”
“What’s a bab?” he asked, after pouring coffee for himself and leaning against the counter. He eyed her over the mug rim and tried not to notice the silky smoothness of her skin.
She started, like he’d caught her doing something indecent. “BAB?”
A frown slowly wrinkled the smooth skin of her forehead and Ty had to restrain himself from reaching out and smoothing it with his thumb. What the hell? He wasn’t a touchy-feely kind of guy so why the hell did he suddenly want to touch her?
Again refusing to meet his eyes, she muttered something beneath her breath and he had to dip his head to peer into her flushed face.
“What’s that, Dr. Cutie? You say something?”
“No.” She shoved her way past him. “Excuse me,” she said with excruciating politeness, and headed for the stairs, muttering, “And the next person to call me that is dead meat.”
“Where are you going?” he asked, watching her take the stairs at a mad dash. He heard her say, “Out,” as she disappeared. Thoroughly confused, he turned to Nate. “What the hell did you say to upset her?”
“Me?” Nate drawled. “I didn’t do a thing but rush to rescue the damsel in distress. You, on the other hand, were the creepy stalker standing there dressed in nothing but pink tape, and…”
he leaned forward and sniffed “…smelling like a spring garden.” He chuckled and flashed a look up the stairs where Paige had disappeared. “Maybe I should invite her sailing. Cute and feisty is an irresistible combination.”
“And maybe you should back off,” Ty growled, feeling unaccountably annoyed. “What are you, seventeen? She’s not the kind of woman you take sailing just because you need to get laid. Pick someone who knows the score.”
“Oh, yeah?” Nate drawled. “And how would you know? I thought you two only met last night.”
“We did,” Ty growled. “When she tried to crack my skull open.”
“Then what’s your prob—? Ah.” Nate nodded sagely. “I get it. You want her for yourself.”
“What—? Of course not,” Ty scoffed, feeling his gut clench. “She’s a bossy pain in the ass who decorated me in pink, for God’s sake.” He jerked his chin at his cast. “I’m here because I need peace and quiet to think about what I’ll do if I can’t do surgery again. I don’t need an annoying distraction, no matter how cute and feisty. Besides, she’s not my type any more than she’s yours.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Nate said, thoughtfully. “I think cute and feisty would be a refreshing change, don’t you?”
“No, I don’t. It would be suicidal.”
Behind them they heard a sound and turned to see Paige standing at the bottom of the stairs looking like she was considering which of them to maim first.
“Oh, hey,” Ty said. “I was just—”
“I’m leaving,” she interrupted. “I hope your visit with your father goes well. I left his address on the entrance table. Please lock up when you leave.” Her tone, as cool as her expression, suggested she hoped it was soon.
She’d obviously heard.
“Listen, I didn’t mean—” he began, but the front door slammed. Hard. He winced. “I think she heard.”
“Yep.” Nate clamped a hand on Ty’s shoulder in brotherly support. “And now you’re scum just like the rest of us. Welcome to the club.”
CHAPTER FOUR
A FEW DAYS LATER, Paige was still smarting over the fact that Tyler Reese thought she was an annoying distraction he didn’t want. She told herself she didn’t care that “cute and feisty” wasn’t his type because snarly and arrogant certainly wasn’t hers.
