Illegal Procedure (Fair Catch Series, Book One)

by Christine Kersey

  “What’d you make?” he asked as he sank into a chair and wiped away the sweat on his forehead.

  She pushed a plate filled with bunches of grapes, sliced cucumbers, carrot sticks, and broccoli, along with a bowl of ranch dressing.

  He needed way more food than this, but he would make up for it later.

  “Thanks again, Josh, for doing so much,” she said as she dipped a carrot into the dressing.

  That made him think about the comment he’d made earlier, about how she had better make the garden awesome, and the fear he’d seen in her eyes. After reading those texts and knowing that she was probably in hiding from this Will person, he felt bad for saying something that might frighten or worry her.

  “Since I’m helping,” he said with a smirk, “Obviously this garden is going to be awesome.” That ought to settle her fears some.

  She laughed, but he couldn’t miss the relief that flashed into her eyes. “Obviously.”

  To think he’d been worried about keeping her out of the arms of those losers in the beat-up black truck who had tried to force her to go with them, when in reality she might need protecting from some guy who had said he was going to find her. Was he actively looking? And what would he do if he found her?

  The idea of someone doing anything to her infuriated him, but he still had mixed feelings about letting her stay. On the one hand, he relished this time at the cabin when he could be by himself to recharge and regroup before the new football season began. But on the other, having Shay around had been….well, he really liked having her around. And it wasn’t just because she was beautiful. She was a hard worker, and since she didn’t know he was a star in the NFL, she treated him like a regular guy. And though she’d been trying to please him—probably so he wouldn’t send her away—he’d also gotten glimpses of a no-nonsense side of her that he liked.

  Sending her away seemed less and less likely. Besides, if he made her leave, where would she go? She’d already made it clear she didn’t have a home. What kind of man would he be if he shoved her out the door knowing someone was looking for her, someone whose motives he didn’t yet understand.

  Of course he wouldn’t send her away. He couldn’t. Not in good conscience. But he couldn’t tell her that. Not without admitting he’d read her texts.

  Shay munched on the veggies, enjoying the companionable silence she shared with Josh. When he’d said the garden would be awesome since he was helping, it had taken some of the pressure off of her. But just some. It was still up to her to make it all come together, and she feared if she failed he would toss her out on her butt without a second thought.

  Tired of worrying about that, she decided to inoculate herself against the constant fear by asking herself what was the worst that would happen if he made her leave? Assuming he sent her on her way with just the clothes on her back, and maybe a backpack with a few supplies, she would…

  What? What would she do? She’d already decided she wouldn’t go to her mother’s or her sister’s. The lack of options made her bite the inside of her lip as she absently picked up another carrot.

  With no money, she would be forced to hitch a ride from whomever was willing to pick her up. She didn’t like that idea, although she didn’t see what other choice she would have.

  Okay, so say some nice person gave her a ride. Where would she go? Maybe Reno was still a good destination. It would be new to her and she could start her life over. The idea was daunting, no doubt about it, but it was also kind of exciting. Starting fresh held all kinds of possibilities. Maybe she could get a job at one of the casinos. There had to be a lot of opportunities there, right? She could make a fresh start there.

  Yes, she could do this. She could make it work. She would be okay.

  The positive self-talk strengthened her confidence. No matter what, she would be okay. Knowing that lessened the fear of Josh making her leave and a sense of calmness settled over her.

  Shay looked toward the garden as a new thought occurred to her. What if she didn’t wait for Josh to kick her out? What if she left all on her own? If she took control of the situation, she could leave at a time of her choosing, giving herself time to mentally prepare. The idea of doing this on her own removed any worry she had about Josh kicking her out. If leaving was her choice, then there was absolutely nothing to fear. Well, there was still the fear of her unknown future, but that was there regardless.

  Nodding to herself, a feeling of resolve settled over her as she smiled. Yes, she would leave. On her own terms. When she was ready.

  But when would that be?

  Before she left she should at least finish the garden project, get it to the point where Josh could take over maintaining it. After that there would be no reason to stay.

  “What do we do next?” Josh asked.

  Her gaze slid to his amazing blue eyes, which were steady on her.

  She would miss him, no doubt about that, but leaving was absolutely the right thing to do. As much as she was growing to like him—and she was growing to like him much more than she’d ever thought possible—she doubted he had any interest in a homeless girl on the run from an abusive ex-boyfriend. Of course that didn’t mean she wasn’t interested in him, but in all reality she knew this couldn’t last. Even if Josh was willing to let her stick around out of pity, that wouldn’t last forever. Eventually she would have to move on. Better for her to be the one to control it rather than to live in fear that he might toss her out at any time. Plus, the more time she spent with him and the more her feelings for him grew, the harder it would be to leave. She would leave. Soon.

  Now that she’d made up her mind, calm threaded its way through her, giving her a new sense of confidence.

  “Now,” she began in answer to Josh’s question, “we plant the seedlings.” She laughed. “First thing tomorrow.” The afternoon had only grown hotter, and she figured he’d done enough for one day.

  “I have some work to do tomorrow morning,” Josh said. “So you may have to start without me.”

  “One of those consultant things?” How often did he work on those? And where did he work? She hadn’t seen any kind of office space in the cabin when she’d cleaned.

  “Yeah,” Josh said. Then he amended his statement. “I need to prepare for a consultation.” Which was sort of true. He had some game film to study which he would eventually discuss with the offensive coordinator. That was like consulting, wasn’t it?

  “Okay.”

  As she sat near him at the table, her emerald-green eyes sparkling, his attraction to her cascaded over him despite his attempts to tame it. She had spear-headed this whole garden operation, even been willing to learn how to use the rototiller, and as he looked at her he saw something new in her expression. Something like self-assurance. Mildly surprised to see that in light of the fact that some guy was angry at her and looking for her, it only made him more intrigued.

  “I think we should have something cold for dinner,” she said.

  He chuckled. “Like what? Cereal?”

  Her eyebrows rose. “That would work.” Then she grinned. “But I was thinking more along the lines of a smoothie.”

  That sounded good just then. “I have protein powder we can add.” He had to have his protein.

  “Perfect.”

  “I’m going to wash off the rototiller first though.”

  “Wait,” she said, “you have a faucet out here?”

  “Of course.” Then he moved the barbecue over a few inches to reveal the spigot.

  She began laughing.

  “What’s so funny?”

  Shaking her head, she said, “When I found your place, I looked for an outside faucet to get a drink, but I didn’t see that. That’s why I broke in.”

  The thought gave him pause. What if she’d seen the spigot? Would she have gotten a drink and then been on her way? Never to have met him? The idea of never knowing Shay sent a sharp sense of regret into his soul.

  Shaking it off, he tossed her a crooked smile,
then began washing off the rototiller. While he worked, he noticed Shay gathering the other tools they’d used and putting them in the garage.

  When they’d both finished cleaning up the yard, Josh said, “I need to shower.”

  Shay grimaced. “So do I.”

  What he really wanted to do was have a session in his sauna to sweat out the dirt that had gathered in his pores, but telling Shay about his custom gym and spa-like bathroom in the barn would force him to either tell her who he really was, or come up with a whole host of new lies.

  No, he’d have to forfeit that luxury.

  “You can shower first,” he said.

  “Are you sure?” Shay asked as they entered the kitchen.

  “Yeah.”

  “Thanks.” Then she turned and walked toward the stairs.

  Josh watched her go, wondering if he should admit that he’d read the texts on her phone, that he knew she was in hiding.

  Chapter Twenty

  Not wanting to use all the hot water, Shay hurried through her shower, and when she was done she called down to Josh to let him know the bathroom was free.

  “Thanks,” he called back, and a few minutes later, as she got dressed in her room, she heard him climbing the stairs.

  This day had gone so much better than she could have dreamed. To think only a couple of days earlier, desperate for a drink of water, she’d broken into Josh’s house. And now here she was, working on a garden with the hottest man she’d ever met, a man who had turned out to be kind and generous even though she had been a complete stranger—a stranger who had broken into his house and slept in his bed as if she were Goldilocks.

  Then she thought about the revelation that there was a faucet outside after all. What if she’d found it that first day? Would she have broken into the house regardless, needing a place to spend the night? What if she hadn’t? What if she’d never met Josh?

  She couldn’t fathom that. Then again, she would be leaving soon. It would be hard to forget him. Maybe it would have been better never to have met him. As much as she would like him to invite her to stay forever, to be part of his life, she knew that was unrealistic. He had a life here and that life didn’t include her.

  She finished getting ready, then she went into the kitchen and pulled out the ingredients to make smoothies—frozen fruit, milk, and juice. Not sure how Josh usually made smoothies—or if he did—she waited for him to join her before starting.

  Twenty minutes later he walked in, all freshly showered and looking good.

  They set to work making their smoothies, and when they were done they took them out back. As Shay sank into a chair on the back patio, shaded by the overhang, she sipped her smoothie as she stole a glance at Josh.

  Broad shouldered, strong, so very masculine, she couldn’t ignore her growing attraction to this man. To distract herself, she turned to him and asked, “Where do you do your consulting work? I mean, I haven’t seen any office space.” Then again, maybe he worked at the kitchen table.

  He shifted in his seat, almost like the question made him uncomfortable. “Uh, actually, I have an office in my…barn.”

  That wasn’t what she had expected him to say. “Doesn’t it get hot in there?” And wasn’t it smelly? At least, that was her impression of barns. Of course, she’d never actually been in one. But that’s how she’d always imagined a barn to be—hot and smelly.

  Josh took his time drinking his smoothie before answering. In a way, he wanted to show Shay his amazing gym and office. It was his pride and joy, the place where he spent so much of his time when he was home. But he couldn’t. Not without exposing his true identity. He had NFL memorabilia everywhere in there. The truth would be evident pretty quickly.

  Maybe one day he would show her everything.

  Hold on. Why would he think that? Was he planning on letting her stick around long enough to learn the truth? Did he want her to learn the truth?

  Not sure how he felt, he focused on answering her question.

  “I, uh, I put air conditioning in there.”

  Her eyebrows puckered. “But you don’t have it in the house.”

  “I spend more time in my office than I do in the house.” Which was true, even if that sounded strange to her.

  She nodded. “Do you need me to do any cleaning in your barn?”

  “No.” The answer shot out of his mouth before he had a chance to tone it down. “I mean, I’ve got that covered.”

  What was that all about? Why was Josh acting weird about his barn? And why did he have an office out there? Shay was certain he was hiding something from her. But what?

  Though she’d been joking when she’d thought that Josh might be an assassin, she wondered if he really was doing something criminal. Something he didn’t want her to discover. Something dangerous. She’d stumbled upon his cabin by pure chance, and now she might be putting herself in danger just by being around him.

  Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

  The saying popped into her mind as she thought about the danger she was already in from Will. Was Will actually the lesser of the dangers growing around her? Was Josh the one she had to be wary of? Not that he would hurt her—she didn’t get that vibe from him at all. But what if he associated with dangerous criminals, people who would hurt him if he crossed them, and by extension would hurt her?

  Maybe she should move up her exit date before something bad happened.

  “How’s your smoothie?” he asked, drawing her away from her thoughts to focus on him.

  “It’s good. And I can’t even taste that protein powder you added.”

  He grinned. “That’s kind of the point. It adds protein without changing the taste of the food you add it to.”

  Shay’s gaze slid over Josh’s biceps and powerful chest. The man was fit, no question. When and where did he work out? She knew he liked to run in the morning, but that wouldn’t make him as ripped as he was. Did he keep in shape because he liked to be healthy, or was it so that he would be able to defend himself?

  What if a bad guy showed up? Would Josh defend her? He hardly knew her. Why would he risk himself for her?

  The idea of a violent criminal showing up when they were in the middle of nowhere terrified her. With no way to call for help, they’d be sitting ducks. Shay knew what it felt like to be punched, and she had no desire to ever again be put into a position where someone could hurt her. Will was looking for her, there was no doubt about that, but that didn’t mean she needed to stick around an unsafe place to keep him from finding her. There had to be a better solution.

  “Are you done?” she asked as she stood and held out her hand. She needed time to think, to evaluate what she should do.

  Josh held out his empty glass. “Yeah. Thanks.”

  She took it from him and carried it into the kitchen where she rinsed out both of their glasses. Taking her time washing the blender and glasses, she wondered if she could sneak into the barn and see for herself what he had in there.

  Did Josh have a meth lab in there? Were people in there working?

  The idea made her shiver despite the warmth of the house.

  Drying off the blender parts, Shay looked out the window at Josh, who had walked over to the garden and was surveying the area where they’d worked.

  What was he thinking? That he’d wasted his entire day on something that wouldn’t earn him any money? Or was he thinking he could bury a body under there and no one would know?

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The next morning Shay woke early. After quietly dressing, she listened for the sound of Josh leaving for his morning run. When she heard the front door close, she crept down the stairs and made sure he was gone before stepping onto the front porch. With a last check to make sure he wasn’t lurking about, she hurried toward the barn.

  When Shay had climbed in bed the night before, her mind had whirled with what-ifs as panic had built inside her. What if he was a dangerous criminal? What if he got caught and they were both sent t
o prison? What if she got caught in the middle of a firefight?

  She hadn’t been able to fall asleep until she’d made the decision to get inside the barn and find out for herself what Josh was hiding.

  Now, as she reached the barn’s man-door, she was surprised to find it locked with a keypad underneath the handle. Why was the security on his barn better than the security on his house? Then again, if he really was a financial consultant, he probably had a computer in there, along with sensitive client files. That would warrant good security.

  Sighing, and with no idea what the code was, she frowned, then walked around the perimeter of the huge red barn, on the look-out for some other way inside. There were a few windows, but the blinds were drawn, and short of breaking the glass, there was no way to open them from the outside.

  Huffing out a breath of frustration, she turned and made her way back to the house.

  She’d been prepared to go inside and snoop around, even though she didn’t really want to, but she believed she had to for her own safety. She had to look out for herself. No one else would.

  With no way to get inside the barn, she decided to work in the garden, and after carrying flats of vegetable seedlings out to the garden area, she got to work. Thrusting the trowel into the soft dirt, she made a hole before setting a tomato seedling inside, then she filled the hole and firmly patted it down.

  As she worked, she considered ways to find out what Josh was hiding. She had to know. She wasn’t normally a nosy person, but whenever she asked him about his job, his body language told her that he was lying. Why? What was it he really did and why wouldn’t he tell her?

  She had to get inside that barn. Maybe when he was working in his barn office she could go out there with some excuse and he’d let her in.

  With the beginnings of a plan in mind, she turned her focus to planting the seedlings, and by the time Josh returned from his run, she’d completed two rows.