Dangerous Lines

by Moira Callahan

  Chapter Six

  Giving Rhonda a moment to drink some coffee, Vincent collected a notepad and pen. Setting them down by her cup, he got her a refill before joining her at the table. “All right, since you’re now up and about—against doctor’s orders—we might as well talk. Technically you’re writing, but you get my drift.”

  She picked up the pen and drew a picture, turning the notepad so he could see it.

  He snickered at the emoticon denoting sticking out one’s tongue. “Funny,” he said. “Seriously though, I need to know what happened that morning, Ro. You write and I’ll keep refilling the coffee as long as you give me everything. I have to get a report into Shawn so he can give your bosses something. They are fucking foaming at the mouth to get to you and find out what Moreau did.”

  She wrinkled up her nose, but nodded. Bending her head, Rhonda got to work writing everything out. Which gave him time to study her.

  Rhonda was looking better, except for the ugly bruising. The swelling in her face was finally subsiding, her delicate bone structure becoming prominent again. She had about fifty different shades of bruises on her face, ranging from nearly black to a sickly yellow-green.

  Her left hand was wrapped up in a thick cast to heal the broken bones there, and he knew her ribs were tightly wrapped to hold those in place during healing. He didn’t even want to think about the number of stitches the doctor had needed to put in. Mainly because he saw red, and wanted to go back and kill that bastard all over again. Slowly.

  A tapping sound brought his focus around to Rhonda and he looked down at the pad. “What?” it said on it. He shook his head, not understanding the question. She scribbled something else out and turned it his way. “Why the glare of death?”

  Shit, he hadn’t realized his emotions had been showing. Shrugging, he forced himself to take a breath. “Just thinking that the asshole who did this to you died way too easily. Had I not been under a time crunch, I’d have ensured he suffered much worse than he did to you.”

  She stared at him for a moment before scribbling something else. Glancing down at it, he rolled his eyes.

  “You’re so sweet!” with the word sweet underlined twice.

  “Finish your statement woman,” he told her feeling distinctly uncomfortable.

  Getting up from the table he poured the last of the coffee into his cup before starting another pot. He could feel her watching him for the first moment or two. He always knew when she had her eyes on him. It was like a stroke to every sense. Nearly physical, it hit him so hard.

  That was something else they would have to talk about, when she could actually talk again. He needed to tell her how he felt. He’d nearly lost her, he couldn’t live with not telling her, even if she didn’t return the feelings. Vincent just needed her to know.

  He turned to watch her as he sipped the coffee. Her full attention was on the pad of paper as she wrote. Every now and again she’d pause to slip the straw in her coffee between her lips, wincing as she leaned forward. Her ribs had to be killing her. Watching her suck on the straw really wasn’t helping Vincent’s cause. All he could picture was her lips wrapping around his cock.

  Damn it! Turning away, he paced to the window to stare out at the trees around the house. He would have to scan the pages, email them off to Shawn and then give the man a call.

  A tapping noise behind him brought his attention back to Rhonda. When she waved him over, he went. Like he had any other choice when it was her? Stopping at the table, he looked down at the pad.

  “Done?” he asked. At her nod he touched her cheek. “Sign and date it,” he told her. Setting his cup down, he headed off to get his laptop and scanner.

  By the time he got back, she’d finished her coffee and looking longingly at the fresh pot. Chuckling softly, Vincent grabbed the carafe, bringing it to the table with him. Filling her cup he admonished her to be careful of the heat as he set it down near her hand. Sitting, he started to set up the laptop.

  The notepad appeared before his nose. Drawing back a bit he read, “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going to scan and email all the pages of your statement to Shawn. He’ll then forward it onto your bosses to buy us more time.”

  A moment later the notepad was back. “We’re in the middle of nowhere, how?”

  “Military grade electronics with a twist of super-hacker smarts to boost it,” he said. “On top of that I have a dish up on the roof that will boost the signal from my sat phone when I send it out to him. I’ll send it as an encrypted file, only Denise in our tech department has the required code to decrypt it. No one will have a clue where we are, especially after it bounces around the world a few dozen times.”

  He glanced at Rhonda while waiting for the laptop to finish its security checks. She was frowning slightly before giving a nod. Chuckling, he watched her. “What?” he had to ask.

  “It’s a good thing you guys are on my side.”

  Reaching out he put his hand over hers and squeezed gently. “I’ll always be on your side, sweetheart.” Smiling, Vincent gave her a wink. Drawing his hand back when the computer beeped, he started the scanner. Tearing off the sheets of the notepad with her statement, he scanned the first one, saved it into a folder, and waited to ensure it was legible.

  It wasn’t bad, just not great. He adjusted a couple of things and scanned the page again. Definitely better, he thought as he killed the first scan. Humming softly under his breath, Vincent scanned the other pages. Saving the file, he set the encryption program to run and sat back in his seat, sliding the notepad back her way.

  “How are you really feeling, Ro?” he asked.

  She gave a small shrug.

  “Ro, seriously here, how are you doing?”

  He loved when she got that little annoyed look on her face, her full lips puckering ever so slightly, the small line between her eyebrows, the heat in her eyes. Damn he was a sick, sick man.

  “I’m fine.”

  He shot her a look that hopefully portrayed his disbelief.

  “Okay, okay. The ribs hurt like hell. I feel weak as a kitten. Mostly though I’m achy, and bored out of my mind.”

  Which was understandable. “Sorry,” he said quietly. “I know this isn’t exactly the Ritz. I just wanted you safe, and it was pretty much the only place that would work. You need to be back in fighting shape before we head back. Even you have to know that.”

  “I’m not complaining about the location you dolt. It’s quite lovely, if not my usual taste. I’m complaining about the fact I can’t damn well talk, we can’t talk, and I’m practically shackled indoors.”

  Oh, well hell. “Ro, you’re healing,” he said. “Give it time. You’re weak now, physically, but that won’t last forever. I am going to have to figure out how to make you some shakes so you are getting something into you beyond straight liquids. You won’t rebuild any strength if we can’t get some protein into you, and some vegetables.”

  Rhonda looked to the mug and back at him with a smirk.

  “Coffee, while it grows on a plant, is not a vegetable, Rhonda.”

  Out came the pout. Sort of. It didn’t really come off well. He was only able to guess at the facial expression she was trying for after weeks of watching her with intense focus.

  “Stuff it, woman,” he muttered. Shaking his head, Vincent turned to the computer again. Hooking in the sat phone, he hummed softly before stopping as he caught himself. Shaking his head he typed up the email, dropped in the file and hit send. “I think I need to make a run into town and see about finding some protein powder for shakes. Probably better than throwing a steak into the blender.”

  Tap, tap, tap.

  Lifting his eyes, he looked to her, then the pad. “Can I go too?”

  “Sorry, sweetheart, no go. We can’t have anyone potentially seeing you. Right now, sorry to say it, you’re very memorable and not in a good way. If you didn’t have the bruises or the cast, then I’d say sure.”

  That earned him anot
her pout, and had him wavering for a moment. He didn’t crack, but it was a damn close thing.

  Chapter Seven

  It had been three weeks since her abduction, beating, and subsequent disappearance into the wilds of California. Damn, that sounded like a weird contradiction even to her own mind. Rhonda’s biggest issue with it all was the fact she couldn’t fucking talk to Vincent. Something she desperately needed to do, soon.

  He was taking care of her, protecting her, helping her get stronger, and keeping the boredom at bay. He was sweet, kind, amazing, funny, and fucking driving her toward death by sexual frustration. She couldn’t even think most days. Even when he’d removed her stitches the week before because he hadn’t wanted to risk taking her to a doctor, she’d gotten turned on. The intense look of absolute concentration on his face had caused her to wonder if he would have the same focus on the woman in his bed. Which then led to her wanting to be that woman, and promptly cursing the injuries causing the delay.

  Each morning she had a shake, something he concocted to get vitamins, nutrients and protein into her, that actually tasted great. They would then go for a walk around the property before coming back to the cabin for a game of cards, a board game, or something of that nature. Lunch would consist of another shake, something different from the morning one, again very good in her opinion. A slightly longer walk, some stretching, and then Vincent would get into his gear and do a workout.

  She loved watching him work himself into a sweat. He’d ditch his shirt partway through his exercises, a visual treat for her, and let her watch all those muscles flex and release. She had a few plans for making him sweat once she was better, and all of them involved both of them being one hundred percent naked.

  Rhonda knew he was fully aware of the sexual tension between them. She’d caught him watching her with a hunger in his eyes that couldn’t be mistaken for anything but what it was. It was a serious distraction, one that caused her mind to wander more than once, or twice.

  She’d woken the other night in a sweat, her body tight and needy. All because she’d been dreaming of the things he might do with his large, long-fingered hands. God, she wanted to know what he could do with those hands.

  A hand appeared before her eyes and waved, dragging her back to the present. Blinking, she turned her head to look at him.

  “If you don’t want to watch the movie you could have just said so,” he told her.

  Rolling her eyes, she shot him a glare, which just made him chuckle. Huffing out a breath, Rhonda grabbed her pad of paper and scribbled on it.

  “Oh, what were you thinking about so intensely?” he asked in response to her note.

  “You” she wrote down.

  “Me?” he asked, sounding shocked. “What about me?”

  Snickering, she shrugged and scribbled. “You’ll just have to wait for that answer.”

  “What? When do I have to wait until?”

  She wrote, “As soon as my jaw isn’t wired shut and I can move it without pain.”

  “Well, shit,” he muttered. It was his turn to glare at her. “I’m really starting to hate you having your mouth wired shut.”

  Wait, hold up. “You like the fact my mouth is wired shut?”

  His smug little grin gave her all the answer she needed. Smacking him with her notepad, she growled and smacked him again.

  “Hey.” He snatched it from her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “I’m just teasing, Ro,” he said softly.

  She snorted, but did snuggle in closer to him. It was nice having him holding her, even if she knew it wouldn’t last for long. Rhonda planned on enjoying this for as long as she could.

  “I was, seriously,” he said. “I miss hearing you call me that annoying-as-piss nickname you have for me. I miss our talks, actual talks, where we can discuss anything and everything. I miss your excitement as you discuss the latest takedown and how you got to smack around the bad guy a little because he dared to run, or called you a nasty name.”

  Wrapping her good arm around Vincent’s stomach, Rhonda squeezed. She missed talking to him too, watching his expressions as she told her wild stories. So what if she embellished them a little, it was all to watch him react. Sighing, she rubbed her cheek to his chest.

  “I know, sweetheart. Just a little longer and we can get it all dismantled, you’ll be back to your old self.”

  Yeah, which would be so great. If they didn’t lose this, what they had right now, in the process. She didn’t want to just go back to the way things were. She wanted more with him. If it didn’t screw up their friendship in the process.

  A buzzing sound had her popping her head up. Looking to him, she frowned.

  “My cell,” he said.

  Letting him loose so he could get up and hunt for it, Rhonda huffed out a breath. She’d just been getting comfortable too. It was always that way. Whoever it was that called, their timing sucked fucking ass.

  “Yep,” he said, pulling her attention back to him. “What? When? No, wait, let me put it on speaker.” He came back her way, flopping down next to her on the sofa once more. Vincent even put his arm back around her shoulders too. “Go ahead, Shawn, we can hear you.”

  “Hey, Ro, how’s the wildlife hell going up there?” Shawn asked. “Oh, that’s right, you no can talkie,” he chuckled.

  Vincent shot her a look and snickered. “I’m guessing, from her expression, asshole is the word she’s applying to you right now, buddy. Stop poking the bear, she has a long memory and will exact revenge. You should also remember, she’s besties with your wife.”

  Silence came over the line before she heard a throat being cleared. “Right. So, Moreau has put out a bounty on Rhonda’s head,” Shawn said. “He doesn’t have any specifics, it’s extremely vague, but according to what little we’re hearing, it’s huge. Like six-figure huge.”

  “Six figures means he thinks she knows something that could take him down,” Vincent said.

  Pretty much what she’d been thinking too, but she didn’t know anything. Not worth that kind of bounty, anyway.

  “That’s what we’re thinking too. We have one of our guys applying for the option of hunting her,” Shawn said. “Oh, yeah, the hunters must interview and be approved by Moreau. If they aren’t approved they are not to go after her.”

  “Which makes them collateral damage to those he has approved. It also likely means he’ll be telling those on his list of approved hunters more about what she might, or might not have on him.”

  “That’s our hope,” Shawn said softly. “And why we’re trying to get an option in. If we can find out what he knows, what he thinks she knows, and any other pertinent details, we might be a step closer to helping the SFPD to shut him down permanently. In other news, he’s no longer after my property, but he did buy up one more chunk at the far end. He’s now got enough to completely fuck up a sting or surveillance operation. I had our guys do a little training exercise to stick in some cameras, neighborhood watch and civic duty, in my mind. So far he hasn’t done jack shit. He’s just had crews in cleaning out all the crap that was in the warehouses when he took possession. Nothing more.”

  “He’s probably too worried to try anything until he has Ro,” Vincent said, hugging her closer. “He has no clue if she’s a cop, Fed, or working for a competitor. Until he knows, or has her in hand again, he can’t chance doing anything that isn’t totally above board.”

  “Right,” Shawn agreed. “Which means we need to figure out what the hell he thinks that she knows. Any ideas, Rhonda?” he asked.

  Shaking her head at Vincent, she let out a heavy sigh.

  “She’s got nothing. We’ll work on it though,” Vincent said. “Any other news we need to know about?”

  “Nope. Her bosses are quiet, they were very happy with her statement and have backed off. I had one of them in here right after I sent it over to thank me, and to tell me to keep her safe. I’m thinking they believe there’s a hole they need to plug internally.”

 
“Makes sense given she was outed somehow to Moreau, but I would have thought he’d then know she was a cop. He kept asking her who she worked for, Shawn. So that theory doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

  “Who knows. Whatever it is, you two stay tucked away safe and sound. I’ll update you as soon as we know if we got our boy hired on or not. Tamara said to say hello as well, Rhonda. She also said for you to keep Vincent in line,” Shawn said in an amused tone. “Good luck with that.”

  Vincent hung up without a goodbye. “Asshole,” he muttered.

  Laughing softly, Rhonda hugged him and peeked up at his face.

  “Keep laughing, sweetheart, keep laughing,” he said, dropping his head to the back of the sofa.

  Chapter Eight

  “There you go,” the dentist said as he sat back, pushing his glasses up onto his head. “Now, your jaw is going to be extremely stiff for the first little while. Go easy, no chewing for a few days, and then with only soft foods once you do. Anything too hard will cause pain. I’d recommend getting some gum to rebuild the jaw muscles slowly.”

  Vincent watched as Rhonda slowly flexed her jaw, catching the small wince of pain.

  “Guess you’re stuck with my shake creations for a while longer,” he teased.

  She stuck her tongue out at him and smiled slowly.

  Laughing, he pushed off the wall. “Thanks, doc,” he said, shaking the dentist’s hand.

  “Just glad I could help,” the man said.

  The dentist, a former client of C&M Security, had been more than willing to do a little after-hours work to help repay them. It was only in his mind he had a debt, but Shawn hadn’t argued the fact when he’d asked for the guy’s help.

  “Anything else we need to know?” he asked, as they all headed for the front doors of the office.

  “Watch how she talks. She’ll have a tendency to try and not move her jaw around, especially for the first while. She needs to let it come naturally,” the dentist said. “Make sure she does the exercises on the sheet I gave her as well. They seem and look silly as can be, but they do help.”