Lexie’s ears perked up and he smiled. “This is why I like coming here. The dogs don’t care about any of those games. They don’t know if you’re famous or rich or rule a small country. You can’t pretend with dogs. You’re just you and they either like you or they don’t.”
He gave her a quick sideways look. “You remind me of them. I guess that’s why I wanted to bring you here.”
Piper took in Chip’s tangled blond fur and self-consciously touched the windblown bits of hers that the helmet hadn’t covered. “Lovely.”
“You are.” He smiled at her, holding her gaze. “You’re a lovely person.”
Piper’s hand slid slowly back to her lap. That may have been the best compliment she’d ever been given. It wasn’t something she’d expect a man of his type to say. But he wasn’t acting like a man of his type.
“When I said you remind me of these guys, I meant that you never paid any attention to the man I was supposed to be. You wanted to know the man I am.” He looked back at the dogs. “You might know me better than I do.”
“Everybody has a public and a private self, Mark. Yours aren’t as far apart as you think they are.”
“Yours are.”
“What?” Sure, she had a normal amount of reserve, but she wasn’t the one with a whole different persona.
But Mark was nodding. “You have this whole, blank mask thing going.” He gestured around his face. “And you have these intense, all-seeing scientist eyes that are always analyzing.”
“I do not!”
“Yes. And this flat voice—it’s scary.” He gave a mock shudder.
Piper was laughing. “It’s not that bad! I’m trying to look neutral and nonjudgmental.”
“You look robotic. It wasn’t until you got mad at me that I knew you had any emotions at all.”
“I have lots of emotions,” she protested.
“Which I am very much interested in sharing with you.”
As he leaned forward and kissed her, Piper thought, Yeah, me, too.
It was a kiss full of sensual promise to which she’d responded with an enthusiasm he couldn’t possibly miss. Yeah, her body took over and gave him the green light. A bright, flashing green light with arrows pointing the way and a marching band ready to welcome him.
This was not her style, but as Dancie had recently pointed out, her style wasn’t working for her.
Dancie had told her she needed to find out what attracted her to him. What didn’t?
She was really, really past hope. Her defenses were gone. Her sense of self-preservation had evaporated. After the kiss in the parking lot, and forty-five nerve-racking minutes spent with her arms wrapped around him while being hyperaware of every move of his body, she knew where this was going. It was only a matter of when, where and how often.
A couple of wet dog noses nudged at them and they laughed.
“I know, I know. Time to play ball, right?” Mark got to his feet and held out his hand to help Piper up. “Usually, I’m by myself, so I have to work into a rhythm where one dog chases a ball as the other brings one back to me.”
She watched as he played with the dogs and laughed because she’d throw the icky ball, covered in dog slobber, but the dogs would always return it to Mark.
Piper noticed that he wasn’t the only volunteer to play with the animals, but he was the best-looking, if she did say so herself.
The rest of the afternoon was a lot of fun. Piper didn’t associate fun with Mark—another surprise. She thought she had him all figured out, but the more they talked and the more she discovered about him, the more she wondered if her Piper Plan was totally bogus. Because how could it describe her perfect man as anyone other than Mark?
So when they arrived back at her apartment, only the repeated buzz of Mark’s cell phone kept his goodbye kiss from becoming a let’s-continue-this-inside kiss.
She knew he would have ignored the phone, but the thing was buzzing against her ribs. “Maybe it’s important.”
“Not as important as you,” he said.
“Now, that’s a good line. Keep that one.”
He lowered his head. “I’d rather keep—”
She laughed. “Check your phone!”
She felt Mark tense when he stared at the caller’s number and knew she’d been right to insist.
“Piper, I—”
“It’s okay. Go.”
With an apologetic smile, he kissed her on the forehead, and left.
Piper was grateful for the reprieve. Frustrated, but grateful.
There was something she needed to do, anyway. Letting herself into her apartment, she flipped on the light and took her phone into the kitchen. After pouring herself a glass of wine, she sat down and made a call. “Hello, Mom.”
“Piper! Hey, look. I know I owe you money, but if you can wait a couple of weeks—”
“I’m not calling about the money.”
“What’s wrong?” Her mother’s voice changed, becoming, well, more motherly.
“Mom…I’m about to do something really stupid.”
11
Step eleven: Is the man you want the man you need?
IT HAD BEEN A PERFECT DAY and would have been a perfect night, as well. But Mark’s phone had buzzed with three calls one after another—while he was kissing Piper. He needed to see who was calling. But only a total jerk would interrupt a kiss to check his cell. There was no acceptable way to say “Hang on and I’ll get back to you.” It was barely okay to end it the way he had, and he’d only done so because he’d sensed her hesitation.
She was right. It was better that they step back now and think, rather than act and have regrets. He could be patient.
The irony was not lost on him.
After Mark left Piper, he’d ridden a little way down the street before pulling over and checking the call log. So he hadn’t imagined the number.
His stomach roiled as he remembered the months he’d spent as a captive with Mendoza, the low-life Mexican drug trafficker.
Mark had programmed his private number into a prepaid cell phone and given it to Hector, the younger brother of Gilberto, one of the boys Mendoza had tried to recruit. He’d told Hector to call if he or Gilberto got into trouble. Mark had been writing a story on children used to transport drugs. When Mendoza discovered it, he’d kidnapped those who’d talked to him. Everyone, which told Mark that someone had betrayed them. And him. He never found out who.
That had been a year and a half ago and he was surprised the batteries in the phone still worked. He returned the call, and instead of Hector, Mendoza, himself, had answered. Truthfully, Mark wasn’t all that surprised.
“Mark, my friend,” Mendoza greeted him heartily.
Mark thought of Piper and the way she detached herself from her emotions so she could analyze a situation. He wished she was listening in now. “I’m not your friend.”
“But we have many friends in common. They’re here with me. Say hello to Mark, mis amigos.”
Mark squeezed his eyes shut as several young voices called out in the background. He couldn’t tell how many. Enough.
“See? They are still your friends, even though you have broken your promise to return.”
Not yet, he hadn’t.
“My heart, it hurts to see them wait for so long. I explain to them you are an important man. A busy man. It is understandable that such a man would forget them. They tell me ‘No. Senor Mark, he would not forget us.’”
Mark could hear murmuring in the background. Mendoza liked to pretend he was an unsophisticated, common man who did what he had to do to survive. In reality, he was university educated, came from an urban, upper-middle-class background and was a shrewd manipulator. He also spoke perfect English.
“So, Senor Mark, did you forget them?”
Mark struggled to keep his voice free of all the hate and disgust he felt for this man. “What do you want?”
Mendoza laughed lightly. “I have not decided. It would depend on what you are
willing to pay.”
Mark remained silent.
Mendoza spoke away from the handset. “Hector, my little friend, you told me he would help you. It seems you lied.”
“No!” Mark heard. It might have been Hector or not. For Mendoza’s purposes, it didn’t matter.
“You know what we do to liars.”
“But he told me! Senor Mark, please!”
The boy spoke in English and the whole thing was no doubt scripted for Mark’s benefit, but the sound of flesh being hit was real enough.
“You can stop,” he said into the phone. “You’ve made your point.”
“Have I?” Mendoza asked. “Because you do not sound convinced.”
Maybe he was channeling Piper too well. “You want something from me and if I give it to you, you will release the boys.” He would have added unharmed, but Mendoza would use it as a negotiating tool against him. “I’m waiting to hear what that something is.”
There was silence and then, “I will contact you.” Mendoza disconnected.
Mark had always intended to return to the Texas-Mexico border and finish the story by eliminating Mendoza, but he’d planned to go after generating some goodwill with BT and ratings for Travis. He’d been off the air for too long to have the clout he needed, never mind the financial backing. But Mendoza wouldn’t know that. The last time he’d seen Mark, he was being carried off by well-armed, highly effective private mercenaries.
Mark had a hunch that whatever Mendoza wanted had to do with them.
For the first time, he was glad BT had insisted that he start working with someone. Because right now, Mark could sure use the help.
* * *
PIPER LISTENED INCREDULOUSLY as one of her top choices for Mark filled her in on her interview. “Let me make sure I heard you correctly—you’re saying Mark refused to hire you because you wouldn’t sleep with him?” Piper’s voice brought both Dancie and Anna running to her office even though they could hear her half of the conversation perfectly well from the reception area.
Of course, Shelley, the attractive woman in her mid-thirties with the six siblings, was so irate, they could hear her voice through the phone, as well. “Are you positive you didn’t misunderstand?”
“It’s hard to misunderstand ‘I need you to sleep with me so I can see if we’re compatible.’ Sorry, but no. I stopped sleeping with interviewers to get jobs a long time ago.”
Dancie’s eyes widened and Anna clapped her hand over her mouth.
Piper struggled for composure. “I’m going to speak with him and—”
“Ask Mary Wade. She was there.”
Mary was Piper’s other top pick.
“He told her he couldn’t hire her because she had kids. That was right before he said he needed to sleep with me.”
“I apologize, Shelley.” Although she was positive Shelley had misunderstood. “I assure you, I will discuss this with him.”
After hanging up, she, Dancie and Anna stared at each other.
“Sounds like Mark,” Dancie said at the same time Piper said, “That does not sound like Mark.”
“I don’t know Mark,” Anna said. “And I don’t want to.”
Piper called Mary Wade, who confirmed Shelley’s story and added that they’d been at Mark’s home doing research for him as a test. Stunned, Piper apologized again.
“I can’t believe this.” She looked up at Dancie. “I thought he was…” Different, she’d been going to say. But he’d just played her the way he played everyone. She hadn’t fallen for the heroic adventurer routine, so he’d shown her a vulnerable man who needed love.
A vulnerable man who needs love. “He went to my website.” She started typing on her laptop.
“Excuse me, there’s nothing on your site that condones sexual harassment,” Dancie said.
“Not that.” Piper brought up the personality grid and read part of the alpha-alpha description out loud. “‘The heroic, demanding, leadership characteristics frequently mask a past trauma and/or loneliness. At his core, the alpha-alpha is a vulnerable man who needs love.’” She gritted her teeth and went on, “‘He considers it a weakness and will rarely, if ever, reveal it.’” Piper felt nauseous.
“What does that mean?” Anna asked.
“It means he showed her his vulnerable side,” Dancie told her.
Nodding, Piper closed her laptop. “He fed me little bits and pieces of his past. I swear, it was like catnip.”
“I take back what I said about getting involved with Mark,” Dancie said. “Big mistake.”
Piper gave her a brittle smile. “Too late.”
“Actually too late or thinking about it too late?” Dancie asked.
Piper yanked open the file drawer where she kept her purse. “He’ll wish we’d never met too late.”
* * *
“THANKS FOR THE INFO.” Mark ended the phone call and made a note, one of many he’d scribbled since hearing from Mendoza yesterday. Strewn across his dining room table were old files and notes, maps and printouts from flash drives, and transcriptions of electronic memos.
While he had everything scanned and backed up electronically, he preferred seeing all his information at once.
Mark studied the wall-size topographical map of the Texas-Mexico border he’d tacked to his dining room wall, and zeroed in on an area near Big Bend State Park. Since Mark’s escape, Mendoza had moved his main headquarters but still took advantage of the wilderness on the edges of the park and its proximity to the border.
After spending months in Mendoza’s remote camp, Mark knew how the man thought, what elements he looked to exploit and his favorite methods. All Mark needed was a general area where Mendoza’s people had been seen to figure out where he was holed up.
His doorbell rang and someone pounded on the door at the same time. The way Mark’s luck had been running, it would probably be the boyfriend of that nutcase woman who’d thought he was hitting on her.
Mark quietly approached the door and took the precaution of checking the peephole.
A thin-lipped Piper glared straight at it.
And when he opened the door, she glared at him.
“Piper!” She was angry, but why? True, he hadn’t called her after abruptly leaving last night, but it hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since he’d seen her. And he’d been busy, working flat-out, thinking of nothing but finding Mendoza and taking him out. But he knew better than to say so.
“Oh, you remember me?”
Okay, he should have called her. “Sorry I haven’t called yet, but things got a little crazy.”
“I heard they got a lot crazy. May I come in?” She tried to look around him. “Or do you already have someone in your lair?”
“No, my lair is at your disposal.”
She swept past him. “Ha!”
Ha? What did that mean?
Instead of enlightening him, she was walking the perimeter of his living room where he’d hung dozens of black-framed photographs of people he’d met on past assignments. He was in most of them, as well. If he could, Mark gave the subjects a copy as a little memento.
But Piper wasn’t here to look at his pictures.
She was still dressed in her “seeing client” clothes—a plain skirt and a top. She wore boots and held her shoulder bag—not the ugly one with the camera—close to her body. She might have been an art gallery patron.
When the minutes passed and she didn’t say anything, Mark decided to ask, “What’s wrong?”
Wheeling around, she planted herself in front of him and demanded, “Did you or did you not tell Shelley she had to sleep with you before you’d hire her?”
Mark grimaced. The nutcase. “I can explain.”
“I’m sure you can,” she snapped. “Yes or no?”
“Yes. But—”
“How could you?” Anger radiated from her. She was no longer the emotionally detached professional Mark saw most of the time. Her face was flushed and her eyes glittered with emotion.
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Now, that’s passion, he thought, when he should have been explaining.
“How could you kiss me the way you did and then turn around and ask another woman to sleep with you?” Her chest heaved and the hand that gripped her purse strap quivered.
“I said ‘sleep,’ not have sex.” Slowly it dawned on Mark that Piper had acted before getting all the facts. He’d had some experience with impulsiveness, but for her, this was way out of character.
“That does not make it okay!” She glared at him. “I rode a motorcycle for you! You introduced me to abandoned dogs! You told me about your mother!” She’d been stepping forward as she spoke and now she jabbed a finger at him. “You made me fall for you!”
Mark keyed in on the important info. “You’ve fallen for me?”
“Don’t act surprised. You’re the master manipulator. Poor, vulnerable, love-starved man. I didn’t have a chance, did I?” She looked up at the ceiling. “How could I have been so stupid? Stupid, stupid, stupid.”
A slow smile spread across Mark’s face. “You’re jealous!”
He started to tell her that not only didn’t she need to feel jealous, but that he’d pretty much fallen for her, too, when, with an impressively primal roar of frustration, Piper raised her fist.
Mark caught it in his hand.
They stared at each other and then Piper gasped. “Look what you made me do! You made me want to hit something. Hit you!” She tugged. “Give me back my hand!”
“No way.” Mark shook his head.
“Why? Because you want me to calm down first?”
He nodded.
“Don’t tell me to calm down!” She jerked her arm once more, knocking them both off balance. They collided, chest to chest, breathing heavily.
One of them should back up. It wasn’t going to be Mark.
Piper’s warm body was pressed against him and her face was inches from his. They weren’t on a sidewalk, in a parking lot or in a field with dogs. They were alone. He could kiss her for as long as he wanted, the way he wanted and where he wanted. Desire burned within him. It wasn’t the hot flare he was used to, but a slow, steady heat that would last a long time. Gazing into her angry face, Mark knew Piper was the one woman who could make him forget everything else. No, worse than that, he wouldn’t forget. He would no longer care.
Tall, Dark & Reckless Page 16
