Quickly, she shifted her gaze to the other man. Jed was leaner, with a hard, defined body that reminded her of a wild cat. She wondered again at the scars on his body. Besides those on his back, there was one on his side that looked as if its history was painful. Jed, she noticed, was very graceful. Every move he made was deliberate, as if he had very limited personal space, yet the very minimalist moves made her very aware of him whenever he was near her. And those eyes. They were always watching everything…no, she amended, they were stalking, like big animals looked at their prey. If Nick was trouble personified in her imagination, then Jed was danger in the flesh. She had a feeling Nick’s cousin had no compunction when it came to matters of life and death when dealing with the enemy. A total bad ass.
They must be talking about something serious by the look on their faces. Apprehension fluttered in Jaymee’s stomach. Maybe they were making plans to depart.
Her hand tightened around the brush in her hand. Tonight. Tonight would be hers. She’d forget about her fears and worries and get herself a memory of Nick to carry with her in the lonely nights ahead. Wiping her hands dry, she prepared two glasses of water, and putting a smile on, she stepped out onto the porch.
“Here comes the boss,” drawled Nick, brushing back the dark lock that fell over his forehead.
“You two have done enough for the day,” she said, handing the cups over. “We’ve to get ready for Mindy’s soon. Wow, you guys accomplished a lot!”
She examined the finished back porch with a critical eye. Despite the argument she and Grace had heard going on outside, the two men had done quite a bit of work. The repairs were finished, and only needed a few coats of water-resistant veneer. They’d even pulled off the rusty gutter around the back of the house.
She grinned, giving the thumbs-up. “Well, if you both ever need another job, you can apply right here.” She ran a hand down the well-used banister. “Good work, men.”
Nick lifted a dark brow, questioning whether she’d expected anything less. “I’ll help you with the counters and the doors tomorrow morning, but Jed and I have to take off sometime in the late afternoon.”
Jaymee’s smile dimmed. “Sure. Will Jed be going with us to Mindy’s this evening? You are still going, aren’t you?”
“I wouldn’t dare risk Mindy’s wrath,” assured Nick wryly. “Grace and I are, but Jed needs to borrow the Jeep to do some errands. Can we take your truck?”
“Of course.” Jaymee looked at Jed, who was quietly putting his shirt back on. “Are you sure you won’t come too?”
Jed shook his head. “I have to get some things ready for the trip tomorrow, but thanks anyway.”
“You can still join us after you’re through with your errands,” Jaymee persuaded. She wanted the two men to be friends again. Maybe a relaxed atmosphere would make Nick realize that his cousin didn’t mean what he said.
Nick didn’t seem to understand. He interrupted silkily, “Jed doesn’t like to socialize.”
Jed’s lips curled. In an instant, he turned devilishly handsome, his smile crinkling the corner of his eyes. That odd intensity disappeared. Jaymee blinked, swallowing the sudden intake of breath at the amazing change. Sexiness was a family trait for these men, it seemed.
“Perhaps I’ll join you later, Jay,” he said, his silver eyes frankly appraising her. “That way, I can pick Grace up and take her with me without the need for you to drive her back.”
Grace, who was silently sitting on the railing, surveyed the three adults. Her grin was knowing, mischievous. “Yeah, use me as an excuse.”
Nick scowled and stalked into the house, leaving Jaymee to stare after him, then at Jed. “What did I do?” she asked carefully.
Jed shrugged. “Give me directions to this place you’re going,” he said, instead, deliberately diverting her thoughts back to him. After she told him, he walked off toward the woods, heading back to her house to get Nick’s Jeep. He called back, without looking, “Behave yourself, Grace Audrey.”
“Always,” Grace promised, swinging off the railing. She helped Jaymee put away the rest of the tools. “I can’t wait for the food,” she said, licking her lips in anticipation. “Hamburger sounds absolutely marvelous. Hmmm. With lots of bacon. Oooh, and cheese.” She rattled off more ingredients as her appetite grew bigger.
Jaymee laughed. “That’s going to be one humongous burger,” she teased. “I’ll do my best to satisfy your hunger, young lady. Let’s go get ready.”
First, she had to find Nick. He came out right at that moment, looking as if he had just used the shower. “Thought I’d better leave the bathroom at your place to you girls. I have no wish to compete with feminine beautifying.”
Jaymee felt the tension under his teasing words. He was still upset about Jed agreeing to be at Mindy’s party. But why? As Grace ran ahead of them in the woods, she mused, “That girl must be the Energizer Bunny.” When Nick didn’t respond, she paused in mid-stride. “OK, out with it. What’s eating you?”
Nick threaded his fingers through hers, his slate eyes intense. “You aren’t curious about where Jed and I are going tomorrow.”
“If I ask, would you tell me?” Jaymee challenged.
His lips quirked. “No.”
She wrinkled her nose in disgust. “So that makes you mad at me? Because I didn’t ask, knowing you won’t answer?” She wrenched her hand out of his and turned away so he couldn’t see the desperation in her eyes. “I’m a big girl, Nick. I know you have a more important job to do than nailing shingles.”
Nick’s voice was low, but to her, it seemed to echo off every tree in the woods. “It’s for the best. I can’t have you and my job at the same time.”
“Why?” she cried, letting her frustration out. “Because I’m a...distraction?”
He placed two hands on her shoulders and turned her around gently. “Do you understand how difficult this is for me?”
Jaymee looked at his face, knowing every inch of it by now, from the lock of hair that always strayed onto his forehead to those eyes that could undress her with a look. The lips with the crooked, wicked smile, to the masculine lean jaw line that clenched intermittently whenever he was angry.
Pursing her lips, she asked, “When?”
“Soon. A week at the most.”
Less than a week. Jaymee swallowed the angry denial that threatened to burst from her. She glared up at him, hating him for making her feel so lost. “And you’ll leave me. Just like that.” She snapped her fingers.
Nick wanted to hold her, to take away the anger and pain, but he kept the distance between them. She had a right to be angry, and maybe this first step away from her would lessen the pain. Whose pain? A voice inside his head mocked. Yours or hers? He ignored that voice.
Anger was a good, cleansing emotion, unlike the way she had bottled up her emotions when he’d first met her. Let her be angry. He would rather have her angry with him, than have a wound festering inside.
When he didn’t answer, the little hope Jaymee had retained snuffed out. “You told me once I was afraid of losing control,” she told him in a quiet voice. “Yet, it’s you who needs to be in control. You’re always somewhere outside, standing and watching, while you go through the motions. You’re doing it now, for God’s sake. Even when we’re in bed, I can feel part of you constantly disengaged from me. You’re the one afraid of losing control. You’re the one who’s letting your fears imprison you.”
She turned and ran off, leaving Nick behind. He stood there among the sabal palms and giant oaks, hands thrust in his pockets, a bleak look in his eyes.
Her father looked up from the kitchen table when she walked in. There were piles of papers scattered across it. “There’s a girl with green hair in the living room,” he announced. “She said she’s waiting for you.”
Jaymee forced a smile onto her lips. “That’s Nick’s cousin.”
She walked toward him, waiting for a sarcastic reply when she noticed her father was arranging the bills
she had stacked in her office. He didn’t look up from his task as she drew nearer. In silence, she watched for a few moments, then bent down and kissed him gently on the cheek. “I’m going to get ready for Mindy’s party, Dad.”
Bob nodded, not acknowledging the kiss. She went into the living room and found Grace watching television.
“Come on, let’s get dolled up, girl.”
The teenager looked up and gave her usual impish grin. “Are you going to put on some serious-looking clothes?”
“Does serious-looking mean a party outfit?” Jaymee guessed wryly. “I’m sure I have something that fits you. What’s your favorite color?”
“Maroon.”
“To go with that green hair?” she teased. She could imagine the look on Mindy’s face.
Grace chuckled. “OK. I’ll be good. I’ll cover it with temporary color.”
***
Nick entered the kitchen, closing the door softly behind him. The sight of Jaymee’s father only made him feel worse than he already did. Knowing the old geezer, he’d be hounding his daughter even more when he found out he’d left her. Determined to do at least one thing right, he advanced to the kitchen table. Bob didn’t greet him, sparing him only a cursory glance before resuming his chore.
Nick frowned. Damned if the old man wasn’t doing office work, arranging bills and filing them. “Busy?” he asked, pulling out a chair. “Need help?”
“Don’t you need a shower too?” the old man countered. “After all, you already practically live here, don’t you?”
At least the rancor was still there. “It won’t take me long to get changed,” he replied, picking up one of the stacks. He started arranging them in order. There was a short silence as the two men shuffled papers and files.
“I’ll be gone in a week,” Nick finally said, as he punched holes in the bills. His eyes met the older man’s. “I don’t want you to use my absence as a means to hurt Jaymee.”
He handed over the papers in his hands. Bob accepted them, and put them away into a ringbinder file.
“Does Jaymee know about your plan?”
“Yes.”
“And she didn’t hit you upside your head?”
Nick smiled humorlessly. “I’m sure she was tempted, but I have to go.”
“Are you coming back?” Bob closed the shoebox with the small receipts and put all the files one on top of the other.
“Not any time soon,” Nick admitted. Then, more firmly, “No. I won’t be coming back.”
Pushing his chair back, the old man stood up. “Beer?” he offered. At Nick’s considering stare, he added, “It’ll be the only one I’ll have tonight. I’m...cutting back.”
Nick nodded slowly. Something certainly had changed here. “Thanks.”
Bob took two bottles from the refrigerator, and passed one to Nick. They both popped them open at the same time, eyeing each other.
After some nervous coughing, Bob said, “I had me a long thinking yesterday afternoon. It occurred to me I hadn’t done that for a long time.” He took a swig. “It isn’t easy to come face-to-face with yourself and finding you don’t quite like what you see.”
Nick let the small silence settle around them as he took a measured swallow from his bottle.
The older man continued, “What you said the other morning made me look hard at what my daughter has gone through for me. I don’t suppose you’ll stay...if ...I apologize.”
It took a lot for a man as proud and obstinate as Bob Barrows to apologize, and Nick respected the old man for the attempt to make amends. The trained part of him was already taking note of the change in the other man. The Programmer could certainly manipulate this new switch to make things better.
“I can’t stay,” he said. To stay would mean to turn Jaymee’s life upside-down. “But, you can take care of Jaymee for me.”
Bob nodded. “She’s my daughter. She doesn’t need to work so hard by herself.”
“I’m glad we finally agree on something important, Bob.” He could even offer friendship, despite the years of pain this man had caused his woman. He could, because he wouldn’t be here for her, and she needed a father. A friend. His hand tightened around the beer bottle.
Bob surprised Nick by actually giving him a smile. The wrinkles fanned out, softening the harsh features. “The important thing,” he said, finishing his beer, “is to know when to change when opportunity knocks.”
How ironic the old man had stolen his very own line. Nick tossed down the rest of his beverage before he headed to the study to look for the clothes he’d brought last night.
***
Change, he decided later, must be contagious. He couldn’t take his eyes off Jaymee when she came back to the kitchen with Grace. She had changed. His throat went dry at the sight of her, and heat shot down his loins and threatened to set him on fire. He had to curb a growl of frustration. The woman was certainly fighting dirty.
Her hair, a mass of gypsy auburn curls, hung in untamed ringlets down her back—loose, the way he loved it. Several curly tendrils fell across her forehead, bringing attention to her face. She had done something to her eyes—he didn’t know what—but they looked bigger and more mysterious. They seemed to be greener than he remembered them. Her lips were a shiny ruby red and the smile she gave him started a cold sweat under his collar.
And was that supposed to be a dress? It was made of some luminous material, jade-green melting into some soft sunset colors and misty gray. It hung off her shoulders and wrapped around every sweet curve of her body until it flared out around her hips, so that with every step she took, the material swayed and caressed her thighs. There wasn’t any trace of the roofer tonight. Jaymee Barrows looked one hundred-percent woman. And Nick wanted to eat her for dinner. And dessert. And breakfast. He put a hand to the back of his neck, to wipe away the perspiration.
Jaymee stood at the doorway. She was nervous but determined. Tonight, she was going to teach her big, bad wolf a lesson. The sight of her father and Nick sitting amiably at the table was disconcerting, though, and she was too distracted to really grasp the fact the two men were arranging her bills, working together.
She wondered whether she’d overdone it. Grace, with the enthusiasm of a sixteen-year-old, had helped her with her hair, using some sort of glaze that made it shine and curl like a professional model’s. It felt strange, though, being dressed up like this. It had been so long.
She blushed at the blatantly sexual look in Nick’s eyes as he stood up slowly. Her heart drummed an erratic beat as his eyes traveled from her teased hair, all the way to her low neckline, and down to her three-inch heels.
“Jaymee girl, you look beautiful!” Her father stared at her.
She gave her a father a grateful smile, suddenly needing the reassurance she didn’t look like a dolled-up idiot. “Thank you, Dad.”
Nick approached Jaymee, those blue-gray eyes intent and penetrating. Grace sidled away with a knowing grin, giving Bob a wink as she sat down on the chair previously occupied by Nick. The old man regarded her with a frown, looking at her now pitch-black tresses.
“I see I’m going to have a busy night fending off other males tonight,” Nick said.
Jaymee’s smile widened. “They’ve seen me in a frock before.”
“Not for years,” her father stated.
“That,” Nick declared, as he touched the material, “is not a frock.”
“Aw, that’s a major party frock,” Grace disputed from behind him. “It has Jaymee written all over it. It’s a male magnet.”
Jaymee laughed. Nick frowned.
“A male magnet,” he muttered under his breath.
“Don’t you like how I look?” Jaymee asked, gliding away as sexily as she could on her heels. As she headed out the door, she added, “I wonder how the others will like my new look? See you later, Dad.”
She sauntered out, not waiting for Nick.
Bob chuckled from his seat. “I get a feeling my daughter is out to have a goo
d time tonight,” he said, amusement in his voice. “You had best keep an eye on her.”
“I intend to,” Nick replied grimly. Yeah, she was certainly out for his blood. And all he could think about was dragging her into a room somewhere and teaching her to tease him like this. He’d wanted her to be angry with him in a different way, but as always, the woman never reacted as she was supposed to. He hadn’t expected her to plan revenge.
As he and Grace followed after Jaymee, his young cousin pulled at his sleeve. “You didn’t even notice me,” she complained.
Nick grinned down at her. “I didn’t know it was you, with that black paint you now have on your hair. Can’t you stay with just one color a week?”
Grace lightly elbowed him. “Meanie. I was trying not to embarrass you and Jay by getting all the attention at this party.”
“Impossible. You always get all the attention, minx.”
She made a face at him. “Just for that, I’m not going to tell you what Jaymee’s planning to do, besides dance with all the men at the party.”
“Wait a minute...” Nick began, but Grace had skipped ahead of him, toward Jaymee, waiting by her truck. “Damn.”
His niece did that on purpose, of course. Women.
“Let me drive,” he said, when he reached them.
Jaymee shrugged and handed the keys to him, giving him instructions to Mindy’s place. Then, she climbed in beside him as Grace opted to sit closest to the window.
“So the wind doesn’t mess up your hair,” she said, innocently.
Her long, now black, hair emphasized her Asian features. She had tied a thin maroon colored braid across her forehead.
Jaymee couldn’t help but smile back. The girl had a certain style. Must come from having an unorthodox father. She wondered whether Nick would make an unorthodox father too, and blushed in the evening darkness, glad no one was watching her. Nick’s child. The picture of a black-haired boy with an attitude appeared. She blinked hard. No, she wasn’t going to go there. She wasn’t going to be sad tonight.
Holding Out For A Hero: SEALs, Soldiers, Spies, Cops, FBI Agents and Rangers Page 37
