Dangerous in Charge

by Sidney Bristol

  The more time passed, the more she relaxed.

  Kyle was more like her than she’d realized. He got her in a way she wasn’t entirely prepared for. Things were a lot easier when he was one of her patient’s family members. She could at least ignore her attraction then. Now, it wasn’t as simple.

  “Okay. We’re done. Let me move this off the burner. It’s heavy.” Kyle took the spoon from her and transferred the pan to a cool burner.

  She shook out her arms and took a step back, watching him.

  When she’d first met Kyle she hadn’t known what to make of him. On the surface, he was a guy caring for his dad in the final days. There was more to him than that. It’d taken her a while to understand the complex dynamic between father and son, but the more she learned the more she felt for him. Liked him. Admired him.

  If Bethany had to care for Anthony during his final days, she didn’t think she was strong enough to do that. But Kyle had. She didn’t need to know what life had been like growing up for him to realize how difficult caring for Mr. Martin had been on Kyle.

  “Are you a lot of cheese fan? Little cheese? Or no cheese?” He held out a block of parmesan and a grater.

  “Lot of cheese, please.” Normally Bethany would be a little more reserved about portions and whatnot, but not today.

  Kyle finished prepping the plates then relinquished them to her to set the table while he got the drinks. It was oddly comforting to be here. She’d worried that things might be awkward or tense, but she hadn’t been this at ease since she moved into the house with the girls. Even sitting down to a quiet dinner, just the two of them, only left her with the good kind of jitters.

  “This looks amazing.” She eyed the plate full of pasta.

  “Thanks. Cooking was one of those things I did with my mom.” He smiled and for a moment he wasn’t there with her. He was somewhere else.

  “What was your mom like?” Bethany stabbed some pasta and twirled it on her fork

  “She was pretty amazing.” Kyle glanced at her. “She and dad met in Vietnam. She was a nurse, right up until the end, when she was in an accident and lost her right arm. Her recovery was rocky, and they told her all kinds of crap like she’d never have a kid, she’d never be able to do things for herself. You know my dad. He didn’t encourage her. She said when I was born I taught her how to be independent again. Mom...she made the best of what she had.”

  “And she stayed with your dad the whole time?” Bethany winced. Shit. “I mean—”

  “It’s okay.” Kyle lifted his gaze to look at her. “Mom had a lot of health problems from her injuries that meant she was trapped with him. He wasn’t as cruel to her as he was me. I think he resented me because in a way, I took her away from him. She had me. And I gave her independence from him. He wasn’t completely necessary anymore. Eat.”

  “How can you say all of that and be calm?” Bethany stuffed her mouth full before she asked something else to get herself into trouble.

  “They’re both dead. Getting pissed off at Dad for being a bastard isn’t going to fix anything and Mom loved him despite the way he treated her. I don’t know that she’d have left him if she could.” He shrugged and pushed his food around his plate.

  She wished she had Kyle’s calm. Every holiday or birthday left her with an ache of loneliness and a reminder that when it came to picking sides, her parents and her sister had chosen Anthony over her. If she could go back and tell her younger self to stay away from him she’d try, but Anthony had swept her off her feet in the beginning.

  That was the last time she’d felt weak at the knees, butterflies and breathless over a man. It was a lot of the way that Kyle made her feel.

  6.

  FRIDAY. KYLE’S HOME, Seattle, Washington.

  Kyle had to do something. Say something. Bethany’s gaze grew distant, and he knew she wasn’t there with him. This whole ordeal had unleashed demons she’d sealed away, and now they were back. He admired her strength and determination to find her friend, but she couldn’t do this alone. Even Kyle didn’t try to do it all himself. That was what a team was for.

  “How’s the food taste? Too much cheese?” he asked to get her to say something.

  “Oh? Oh—God, no. This is amazing.” Bethany shook her head and took another bite.

  “Good.” Kyle smiled at her. He had to treat her like a client now. He had to keep her calm and comfortable while his team did the heavy lifting. “How about we talk about something happier?”

  “What would that be?”

  He opened and closed his mouth.

  This was where the other guys were handy. Isaac always had something to talk about, and Felix was good at pitching in when it came to banter. Kyle kept them all aimed at a goal and the machine running.

  “What’s the last thing you did for fun?” Bethany asked.

  “I took a bike ride down one of the paths Mom and I used to do.”

  “You grew up in Seattle then?”

  “Yeah. You?”

  “Mt. Vernon, mostly. My parents moved into Seattle, then out to Tacoma.”

  “I never thought I’d be back here.” Kyle glanced at the kitchen, the light gleaming off all that white.

  “How’d you end up here then?” Bethany asked.

  “At first, Dad. He got himself in the hospital and they wouldn’t release him to anyone. I was the only person he could call, and we sort of fell into a dependant relationship. I heard rumors we might open an office on this coast so I bought the house on a gamble. Six months later they announced the move here and there you have it. I’m back in Seattle.”

  “Wait—go back to the house. You said you redid the kitchen?” She ate another dainty bite.

  “The whole thing, actually. Dad and I actually lived in the garage for a month together before I got the inside of this place put together enough that we didn’t have to be under the same roof.”

  “The whole thing?” Bethany turned in her seat to gape at the living room.

  “Pretty much. I can’t take too much credit for the design, though. I got a lot of help. Figured when Dad was gone, I’d sell the place.” He didn’t have any use for a two thousand square foot house with an in-law suite. Of all the places he’d lived though, this was the one he was going to miss.

  “Is there an after dinner tour?” she asked.

  “If you want one.” He shrugged.

  “How’d you learn to do all the remodeling stuff?” Bethany leaned her elbows on the table. “Spoiler, I love all those home reno shows.”

  “I got into too much trouble between deployments, so I found a guy who’d hire me for weeks or months at a time. Picked up a little bit of everything.”

  “I need to learn your secrets.” Bethany placed her fork in the middle of her plate. “That was delicious, thank you.”

  “Glad you liked it.” Kyle pushed his plate away from him. Mom had always called her Tuscan Chicken recipe the ultimate comfort food, and he was inclined to agree. “Ready for your tour?”

  “I am.” Bethany grinned and stood.

  He had no idea why a house tour was this exciting, but she was smiling.

  “Let’s start at the front then.” He stood and together they walked across to the front door. “Here’s a picture of it before. If you swipe, you can see it down to the studs, then here you have it.”

  Bethany took his phone and stared at the picture.

  “Wow...and you bought this place looking like this?” She gaped at him.

  “The garage apartment sold it. That place wasn’t all that bad.” He shrugged.

  “There’s a hole in the subfloor. How’d you even walk through the house?”

  “Couple two by fours and some plywood.”

  “You are the king of understating things, aren’t you?”

  “It wasn’t a big deal.”

  “Yeah, right.” Bethany glared at him from the corner of her eye. “Where to next?”

  “You might not want to look at the kitchen before shots if the
hole in the floor bothers you.”

  “The kitchen? This beautiful kitchen of yours? Do I just keep swiping?” She marched across what was previously a gaping hole straight down to the basement and stood in the middle of the living room facing the kitchen. “Dear God...”

  “Told you.” Kyle ambled after her, taking far too much joy in her shocked expression.

  “I can’t believe you turned this into that.” She glanced up at him. “I do like your use of the subway tiles.”

  “The rectangle ones?” He squinted at the kitchen.

  “You know what they’re called.” She smacked his shoulder. “What else can you do? Magic?”

  “I know a few card tricks?”

  “Of course you do.” She grinned.

  They toured a downstairs room he used as an office and the lower level bathroom. She asked questions about materials and the time taken for each stage of the remodel. They spent a good five minutes discussing how he’d bought the wood for the stairs off a house that was going to be demolished so he could replace the busted ones here with something similar.

  The upstairs had far less charm. The bedrooms were functional and simple while he’d saved his dollars to put into the two bathrooms.

  “All total, what do you think you put into the place?” Bethany crossed his bedroom to sit on the bench between the two dormer windows looking out on the back of the house.

  “Oh...thirty or forty grand?” He squinted at the ceiling. “That sounds about right.”

  “Do you think you’ll make it back?”

  “Easy.” He leaned against the foot of his bed. “Need to finish drywall in the basement and tidy that up so it’s partially finished. Biggest thing will be making Dad’s apartment livable. Tearing out all the last carpet, redoing the insulation, replacing some drywall.”

  “You’re set on selling the place?”

  “Yeah. I mean, I don’t have a lot of use for a house this big without Dad.”

  “Will you buy to flip again?”

  “Probably not something that’s a project on this scale, but maybe if the right thing came up. Hard to say, really.” He shrugged.

  “I wish I could do something like this.” Bethany glanced down at her lap. “Oh...it’s Merida?”

  Kyle crossed to the bench and took the phone. He hoped it wasn’t bad news.

  “Hey Merida, you’re on speaker with me and Bethany.” He held the phone between them.

  “I didn’t wake you up, did I?” Merida asked. She would make the appropriate apologies without meaning them. They all knew their job happened twenty-four hours a day.

  “Not at all,” Kyle said.

  “Merida? Like...Brave, Merida?” Bethany blinked up at him.

  Kyle quickly covered his mouth to keep from laughing.

  “Close enough,” Merida said without skipping a beat. “Zain wanted me to check that you’d gotten his email and were staying put for the night.”

  “Copy that,” Kyle said.

  “Good. Get some rest and we’ll see you tomorrow.” Merida hung up.

  “Did I just piss her off?” Bethany covered her mouth.

  “Nah.” Kyle grinned. “We give her shit all the time about being the Office Princess. Believe me, Merida can hold her own.”

  “Who is she?”

  “She’s...well, she’s more like our Office Manager, though originally she was going to be Zain’s assistant. If it’s in the office and not operational, it’s under her purview.” He leaned back on the cushions and stared across the room.

  “Does this count as my rain check, or do I get to cash that at a better time?” Bethany asked.

  “What?” He chuckled. He had a vague memory of her saying something about another time.

  “Nothing. Forget it.”

  “Beth—any.” He winced. He’d fallen into calling her Beth and it’d become a habit before he could fix it. “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay.” She leaned her head back against the wall and smiled at him. Bits of hair had come loose from her bun during the day. He’d always wondered how long her hair really was.

  “I think the holder of the rain check gets to decide when they cash it in,” he said.

  “But I thought I owed you?”

  “You were going to grace me with your company, so I think I owe you.”

  “Oh, do you now? I think after all this I’m in your debt.”

  “Nah. You brought us a client. That might actually get you a referral fee for all I know.”

  Bethany’s smile dimmed and Kyle could have kicked himself.

  He reached over and took her hand, giving it a squeeze.

  “We’re going to find her.” He couldn’t tell Bethany Megan would be okay or alive, but at the very least they’d bring her home. Then they’d find her killer. While their team aimed to work within the bounds of the law, they didn’t hesitate to bend rules for the greater good. Sometimes that’s what it took to protect people. Like Bethany.

  “I hope so,” she whispered.

  “We will.” He pulled on her hand and she leaned toward him.

  Kyle slid his arm around her shoulders and pulled her up against his side. He hated that this was happening to her, but at least he could help. He wasn’t good at much, but this fell under his specialty.

  “Thank you,” she mumbled and laid her head on his shoulder.

  What he wouldn’t give for this moment to be happening in another time or place. His attraction to Bethany warred with his need to look out for her. They were not compatible. At least not for him. And besides, she was better off without him.

  “Why don’t we get some rest and start early tomorrow?” he said. Putting some walls between them would do him some good.

  Kyle tugged on her hand and guided her to her feet.

  “How am I supposed to sleep?” She peered up at him through her lashes.

  “Comfortably, I hope?”

  “Haa. Haa. You’re so funny,” she said in a deadpan voice.

  “Good thing I’ve got a day job, right?”

  Bethany smiled at that.

  What he wouldn’t do to keep her like this. If he could keep her in a bubble away from all the evilness, he’d do it. He’d always thought Bethany was one of the strong ones, and now he knew how strong she really was. He admired the hell out of her for the shit she’d been through. Unlike him, she’d come out of it better, compassionate.

  She leaned toward him a little.

  Shit, she was dead on her feet and here he was keeping her awake.

  He opened his mouth.

  Before he could find the words, Bethany swayed toward him and went up on her tiptoes. She pressed her mouth to his in a sudden kiss. Kyle gripped her shoulders, the forbidden attraction seducing him. For one, blissful moment he sank into the kiss. Her mouth was soft, warm. He’d wondered what she would feel like, how her lips would taste and now he knew. Against his better judgment he pulled her closer. Her hands slipped up over his shoulders. Her head tilted one way, his the other.

  Cherry. She tasted like cherry lip balm.

  His head spun. There wasn’t enough oxygen in his lungs.

  Kyle turned his head, sucking down air.

  Holy shit.

  “I...uh...sorry.” Bethany pulled away from him.

  There was a note in her voice he didn’t like. It bordered on fear.

  “Wait?” He kept hold of her hand, but didn’t stop her from putting distance between them.

  Bethany stared at the floor, her cheeks bright red, eyes wide.

  “That wasn’t supposed to happen.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “No. Sorry. Can we just forget the last few minutes happened?”

  “No.” It wasn’t the answer she wanted to hear, but it was the truth.

  “Oh, God. Okay.” She tugged her hand from his and covered her face.

  “It was a kiss.”

  “I know.” She dropped her hands. “I...I’m not supposed to date or anything. For a year. I wasn’t supposed to kiss you.”

&n
bsp; “You lost me...” It was Kyle’s turn to stare.

  “I...um. Sit? I can’t think with you standing over me like this. Has anyone ever told you that you’re too tall?” Her hands fluttered when she spoke. He’d never seen her nervous before.

  Kyle perched on the edge of the bench and leaned forward, elbows on his knees.

  “Okay. I told you about Anthony. Well, when I moved out I started dating, and it was such a mistake. I’m...it was bad, okay? I decided about six months ago I wasn’t doing any of that, and I said no dating, no nothing. For a year.”

  “I see.” Six months ago? He couldn’t remember if anything had been different about her, but that wasn’t his business.

  “You see? What?” Bethany put her hands on her hips. She didn’t handle being nervous well.

  “I’d just like to point out that a kiss is not a date.”

  “Oh, haa haa. It falls under that anything category.”

  Kyle bit his cheek to keep from chuckling. He doubted she’d like to hear how cute she looked flustered with wisps of hair framing her face.

  He was damaged goods. Bethany needed someone better than him. Right now was the short term, and that had different requirements. He leaned forward and grabbed her hand.

  “You couldn’t help yourself so you kissed me. Is that about right?” he asked.

  “Your masculine magnetism was just too great,” she said with a flat stare. She took a small step toward him.

  “I’ll try to keep it in check.” Kyle stood, and she tilted her head up, watching him.

  “You should do that. Prolonged exposure has me loopy.”

  “Does it now?” His gaze slid from her eyes to her mouth. He wasn’t the only one feeling the chemistry.

  “Which bedroom am I staying in?” Bethany glanced away from him.

  “First room on the left.”

  Kyle shoved his hands in his pockets and vowed to get a handle on himself. He’d stay in his corner tonight. Tomorrow they’d find Megan and all of this would be over.

  FRIDAY. CANDLELIGHT Theater, Seattle, Washington.

  Jay shoved the door to the boiler room open. His arms still ached from sitting in the closet for what seemed like hours. When he went to visit the girls he was prepared. Today he’d had to hide while those men defiled the space.