They also ate the same way with the same rhythm and even laughed the same. He’d noticed that every time either one of them laughed their heads either went forward or backwards, it never stayed upright. He’d already noted it from the time he’d spent with Ginny because he’d thought it was so cute. Actually a lot of the things he’d thought were cute on Ginny he’d seen Don doing today and when he did them there wasn’t an ounce of cute in it.
Dax had met a lot of tough guys in his days in the Corps. His Major had been one of the most badass men he’d ever met in his life. He was like John Wayne, Chuck Norris and MacGyver all rolled into one. Dax had been sure that he’d never meet another man that came close to his level of badassery, until he met Don. He could see why The Colonel and Don had been friends and he had a feeling that in their day they got into some trouble.
Don was the kind of man that even a guy in Dax’s shape, at Dax’s age and with Dax’s training, knew his place in the pecking order the second he shook hands with him. If it came down to it, he would get his ass kicked by the older man. Don was just that guy. The man had just gotten back from spending two weeks in the woods, in the middle of winter in Illinois and he looked more rested and healthier than Dax did.
His real life was something to behold as well. He rescued dogs and trained them for veterans with PTSD, he was funny, smart and could cook a mean steak. He could totally understand why Ginny was taking so long to say goodbye, he hadn’t wanted to leave Don either.
“Arf!” Capone barked again, this time in excitement because Ginny was walking towards the car.
She was still brushing away tears as they waved and drove away. When she leaned back in her seat, Cap curled up on her lap and went right to sleep. He’d actually been surprised he’d made it the whole day without a nap. Usually, he slept for eighteen of the twenty-four hours in the day.
As they turned onto the main road, she asked, “Did that really just happen?”
“Yes, it did.” He reached over and squeezed her knee, then left it there.
It was the first time he’d touched her since they’d left the house this morning and it had been killing him to be so close to her and not be able to reach out and hug her, to kiss her, to pull her onto his lap. It had taken a lot more self-control than it should have considering Don had been watching him closer than his own mom had when she’d visited. He’d been going crazy just needing to touch her. For his sanity he needed to keep his hand where it was.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw that Ginny stared blankly out the front window and her expression reminded Dax of people when they were in shock. “Was it just me or is my grandpa not the coolest, toughest, most…”
“Badass,” Dax offered.
“Yes! Badass person ever?”
“No it’s not just you. He is.”
“I already miss him, is that weird?” she asked as she leaned over and snuggled against his shoulder.
“No, it’s not weird,” he assured her again. “At least for you it’s not, it is a little weird that I already miss him.”
Her head fell back and she laughed.
“You think I’m joking, but I’m not,” he said flatly.
She just laughed harder.
A loud ringing came through the speakers and his navigation screen lit up with a call coming from Nate. He wasn’t sure how great the reception was up here, but he’d been anxious to hear back from him so he answered.
“Hey man, you’re on speaker. I’m here with Ginny. We’re coming out of the back woods so I’m not sure how great the reception is going to be.”
“Got it. I’ve got some information on the leak. What’s your ETA?”
“About two hours.”
“Would you be able to come by the offices?”
As much as he wanted to find out the information Nate had, he knew this had been a long day for Ginny and she might not be up to—
“Yes,” she sat up and said loudly before he even finished his thought.
Dax seconded her response, “I guess we’ll see you then, man.”
“All right.”
When the line went dead she adjusted Capone on her lap so she could lean over as far as her seatbelt allowed to rest against Dax as a yawn claimed her. She snuggled against his arm and shoulder and he kept his eyes on the road as he kissed her head and said, “Get some sleep.”
“I don’t want to make you drive while I’m sleeping. I can stay up.”
“I’m fine.”
“No, that’s not fair. You’ve had just as much sleep as I’ve had.”
“I just spent the day with Don, please let me keep a scrap of my manhood.”
She giggled. “Well, since you put it like that.”
She nuzzled back against him and it wasn’t long until her breathing slowed and her body relaxed. He glanced over at his dog and the girl that owned him and his chest tightened from the amount of love that he was storing in there.
The day had been perfect, one he’d never forget for the rest of his life and he knew that Ginny wouldn’t either. He was just starting to get choked up at how lucky he’d been to be able to be with Ginny today when a thick stench filled the small area and he tried to gag quietly as he pushed the lever down to crack the window in order to get some fresh air.
Now his eyes were watering for a completely different reason.
Chapter 23
“And you’re sure that about this?” Ginny asked Nate for the fifth time, trying to get the story clear in her own mind.
Nate, who had the patience of a saint and was built like a Greek god, nodded and asked, “Do you want me to go over it again?”
“No.” Ginny shook her head and looked over at Dax, whose expression she couldn’t read. “It’s not that I doubt how you found out what you did, it’s just hard for me to wrap my head around what you found out.”
“I’m sure that this information is not easy for you to hear. I wanted you to be aware of it because of the access Mr. Denton still has to your accounts.”
“Access? No. It should be none. I removed his name from the business bank account and credit cards.”
“I understand. But what about the password to your Cloud server.”
“Yes. I changed that too.”
He clicked several more screens that just had numbers and shapes on them, which looked like computer code to her.
“From what I found he didn’t use any hacking tricks or software to break into your Cloud server, which was where he gained access to the songs and also nine video clips. But the most alarming by far is that he could see all of your new passwords that are all saved in that account, which is never a good idea. It makes you very vulnerable.”
Hindsight was twenty-twenty. “Yeah, I see that.”
“Does anyone else have access to your Cloud account?”
“Just my mo—” Oh no. “My mom had just gotten married and she was leaving for her honeymoon. I never considered that he would have had her password, but now that I think about it, it makes sense.”
He’d gotten access to all of it, including, it turned out, her bank accounts.
“I will have my completed report done by Monday. If you plan on filing charges I have no problem testifying. I’m considered an expert in the field of forensic accounting.”
“Why does that not surprise me?” Dax shook his head, it was obvious he was impressed by Nate, and why wouldn’t he be?
She’d spent an hour with the man now, but within minutes of meeting him she’d known he was easily the most intelligent person she’d ever met. Not that it mattered but he wasn’t bad to look at either. One would definitely categorize him as a “hot nerd,” which was a very popular category to be in these days. But he wasn’t just hot for a “nerd” he was just flat out hot. Dark hair, dark eyes, glasses that worked on him and a kind of quiet dominating presence.
If she hadn’t been head over heels, bye-bye baby in love with Dax, she might have developed a little crush on him. Although he was giving off a very emot
ionally-unavailable vibe. But hey, maybe that was her type. Dax was “relationshipally” unavailable and she’d fallen in love with him. Maybe for her to be attracted to someone they just needed to be unavailable.
That was a depressing thought, but not as depressing as her manager stealing from her for, what Nate had discovered, six years and leaking her music. That was a much tougher pill to swallow.
“Is there any way you can put up some kind of security or safeguard, or do I need to shut down the entire thing?”
“It’s already in place. You are protected.”
Ginny almost asked how but stopped herself since she probably wouldn’t understand it anyway. Though she’d tried, it was hard to even follow his explanation of how he discovered Shane was the one behind the song leaks, the story about her and Derek in the tabloids and apparently skimming money out of her account and laundering it through dummy businesses all the way back to her first contract she signed when she was fourteen.
“Okay, well thank you for your time. I really appreciate it.” Ginny stood and Nate followed. The two guys did the man-nod goodbye thing before Dax placed his hand on her back and led her out to the SUV, where Capone was sleeping soundly under a thick blanket in the passenger seat.
As they started back home, or to his house she reminded herself, he gently asked, “How are you holding up?”
“Okay. It’s just been an eventful few weeks.”
“Yeah. I guess so. Is there anything I can do?”
“No.” She shifted her upper body so she could comfortably rest against Dax’s arm as he drove. “This is all I need.”
She wasn’t just saying that either. Having Dax there to lean on for support made her feel like she could pretty much take on the world. The closer they got to his house, the more excited she got thinking about him making her forget everything that she’d just learned, at least until tomorrow.
Closing her eyes she took a deep breath and soaked in Dax’s strength as she rested against him. The past forty-eight hours had enough ups and downs, twists and turns, dips and flips that anyone who had been strapped onto it would be ready to get off.
And that’s exactly what she wanted to do. Hopefully at the hands of Dax. And the mouth of Dax, and the…
“Are you expecting someone?” His tone was all business, Mr. Professional.
Her eyes flew open and her mouth followed their lead.
Parked in the center of Dax’s driveway was a rental car and sitting in the front seat was a helmet of hair she’d recognize anywhere.
“That’s my mom,” Ginny breathed.
* * *
Dax wasn’t sure why he was surprised. There was never a dull moment around his house lately. He tried to tamper down his disappointment that he wasn’t going to be alone with Ginny tonight. During the meeting with Nate all he’d been thinking about was how badly he wanted to get her home so he could shut her mind off from anything except the pleasure he was giving her. He’d watched as she’d asked Nate to explain how he’d discovered his findings again and again and he’d practically been able to hear her wheels turning. Her lips had been pursed and her brow furrowed, it made him want to massage her intimately until all the tension was out of her body. But the one that really got him, that had upgraded his general need to urgent status, was the look of betrayal that had been in her baby blues as she’d listened to all the ways Shane had deceived her, exploited her and embezzled from her. He wanted to take her home and kiss that look right out of her eyes, he wanted to kiss away the pain that he’d seen there.
“I’m so sorry. I don’t know what she’s doing here. She’s not due back for another week.” Ginny sat up straighter, looking ahead as her mom and a man he assumed was her mom’s new husband got out of their car.
“It’s fine—”
“It’s not fine,” she snapped over his answer.
He’d been planning to say that he was excited to meet her mom, but now that he saw how stressed she was, he switched tactics. “If you think you’ve got the market cornered on mom’s showing up unexpectedly then you either have a very selective or a very short term memory.”
That got the laugh he’d been hoping for.
It was just in time too because the tornado that was Mona Valentine opened the door and everything in the entire atmosphere shifted.
“Baby girl! I missed you so much!” She squealed as she pulled Ginny out of his SUV. Thankfully he’d been able to grab Capone before he’d woken up to a strange woman accosting his favorite human.
“Hi!” Mona kept one arm around her daughter and extended her free hand into the vehicle and started shaking his hand up and down. “I’m Mona. You must be Dax. Well, boy howdy, you are even better looking in person.”
“Thank you. It’s nice to meet you.” When she finally dropped her hold he opened his door to find what appeared to be a meek, mild-mannered man waiting on the other side.
“Hello, I’m Brad Nixon, Mona’s husband. Nice to meet you.” His voice was monotone.
Wow. Talk about opposites attracting. These two people seemed like night and day. Dax sat Capone on the ground and shook the man’s hand.
“Nice to meet you.”
He could hear Mona squealing on the other side of the vehicle as she told Ginny about the honeymoon as he and Brad started making their way up to the house. He did a quick peripheral scan to make sure that Ginny and Mona were headed in the same direction.
As they all reached the door Brad said, “Thank you for taking care of Ginny while we were away. The only reason that her mother was able to relax and enjoy any of our honeymoon was knowing that Ginny was being protected twenty-four seven and that she was in such capable hands.”
He felt Ginny pinch his left hand discreetly and he had to work to keep himself composed and professional. “Of course.”
They all filed inside and before he’d even shut the door Mona asked, “We’ve been waiting forever and you weren’t answering your phone, Ginnybean. Where were you two coming from?”
He saw the underlying look of pleading panic that flashed in Ginny’s eyes. He wasn’t sure if she didn’t want her mom to know about what Nate had found or that they’d met Don. So he let her take the lead.
“We were at the Elite Offices.”
Okay, so she didn’t want her mother to know about Don. Got it.
“Nate found—”
“Oh that, yes. I know. I’ve been getting all the updates emailed to me.”
Dax had actually forgotten that she was technically the one who hired Elite, so of course she would be getting all the updates as she’d directed them to be given to her.
“My poor baby.” Mona reached out and pulled Ginny into her arms again. “I’m going to make that slimeball, lowlife, rat pay for what he did to you. I’m just so glad I’m at least here when you’re getting hit with that news. I was going crazy being so far away from you when you went through what you did yesterday.”
Large tears filled Mona’s wide brown eyes and fell over her bottom lid as her bottom lip quivered, but she quickly tried to compose herself. She leaned back, placed her hands on Ginny’s shoulders and straightened her back and said. “But I’m here now, and we are going to pick up the pieces and make this right. You don’t need to worry your pretty little head. I will take care of everything. You just focus on your music and leave all of this ugliness up to me and Brad.”
Mona might be a tornado of a woman, but it was obvious to Dax that she loved her daughter more than life itself and she would do anything for Ginny. It had been hard for him to imagine the woman that Ginny had described to him. But seeing her in action everything Ginny had said made sense. She was obviously overbearing, overprotective and over the top, but there was a fierce, protective love that radiated from her when she looked at her daughter.
His phone buzzed and figuring they might want a few moments alone, he excused himself to take it in the kitchen. It was Seth. He answered it on the third ring. “Hey, man.”
“I know yo
u just got off the job but we had something that just came up. Overseas. Roll call, oh nine hundred. Could go two to three weeks and it’s dark.”
“I’m not…I’m still on my assig…” He didn’t finish his thought because it dawned on him that now that Mona was home she’d terminated the contract. It was no longer his job to protect Ginny. He knew this time was coming, but he just hadn’t known that it would feel like a sharp knife stabbing him repeatedly in the chest. “Do you need an answer right now?”
If he did then the answer was no. There was no way he was going to take off on a dark mission, not knowing where he was going, when he’d be back and not having any communication until he knew exactly what was going on with Ginny.
“I can give you an hour.”
“All right.”
Dax put the phone back in his pocket and when he stepped back into the living room he found Brad playing with Capone. “Hope you don’t mind if I throw his toy. He wanted to play while the girls pack.”
“Pack?” Dax repeated.
“Yes. We have a flight back to Nashville that takes off in four hours and we are already going to be cutting it close to make early check-in.”
“What about her car?” Dax was grasping at straws but she had driven there.
“It’s already on a truck on its way back to Nashville. Mona took care of it. At this rate, it might even beat us there. She also arranged for Chase to fly out on Monday to finish up the album with Ginny’s band in the studio.”
No. No. No. This wasn’t supposed to happen for another week. He had another week with her. The knife that had been stabbing his chest was now twisting painfully. He couldn’t breathe.
“All right, well we’re going to get out of your hair.” Mona declared as she and Ginny walked back into the living room. “When Ginny told me that you had an Airbnb, and you were a bodyguard I knew that she was in the right place. Thank you again for taking such good care of my Ginnybean.”
Ginny stood behind her mom with the bland but pleasant expression he recognized from magazine covers. It must be her shield from the public because he was trying to pick out any clue, take any hint that she wanted to stay, any sign at all that she wanted him to step in. But there was nothing. He might as well have been a stranger.
All He Feels - Dax & Ginny (Crossroads Book 11) Page 22
