“Want company?”
“Sure, but don’t you have anything else better to do? I thought most men hated to shop.”
“I’m not most men.”
No, he wasn’t. At least he wasn’t like most of the men she’d encountered in her life. Her attraction to him beat at her, growing against her will. Heat filled her cheeks as an image of him lying on top of her, thrusting inside her, filled her mind. She dismissed the idea. She couldn’t go that direction. No way.
When they left the restaurant shortly after, she discovered more facets of him. He followed her into a women’s clothing store without flinching. He didn’t pick clothes off the rack and tell her what would look good on her, something her ex would have done. The young female clerk, who couldn’t be more than her mid-twenties, hit on Griff. The girl stood close to him, made flirtatious comments to him, and ignored Cassie. Cassie left the store without buying anything. Before long they’d checked out a tourist store where she bought a navy sweatshirt with a white wolf on the front. Her mind flashed back to that day in Phuket when she’d bought the t-shirt, but she immediately shoved the thought away.
When they departed she glanced to her right and south, back up the hill. Dougray McPhee stood a good hundred yards up the hill, just watching them.
When she didn’t follow him, Griff turned back to her. “What’s up?”
“Dougray’s following us.” A tingle raced up her back, and it wasn’t a good one. “Unless he’s shopping, too, and he’s not really looking down here at us.”
“Oh, yeah. He’s looking at us. Damn. He doesn’t get the message, does he?” He sighed and his arm slipped around her waist. “I have an idea.”
“What?”
Before she could do more than blink, he’d turned her full against his chest. Pressed into hard, hot body, she savored the heat and muscles all along her curves. He tilted her face up with his fingers, gentle and sure.
“Don’t hit me,” he said softly.
She saw the intent in his eyes before his mouth found hers. Instead of balking, she slid her hands up to the solidness of his shoulders and took in his gentle kiss. And yes, it was tender. Perhaps the most tender kiss a man had ever given her. Warm, lingering, not asking for too much intimacy. A mere meeting of lips. She barely had a moment to respond before he pulled away and released her entirely.
Her heartbeat thumped in her chest wildly. “What was that for?”
He glanced back up the hill. “He’s gone. Guess it did the trick.”
Her face still flamed, and her body tingled in places it hadn’t tingled in years. Whoa. Her body responded with full force interest, even as her mind rebelled. So what? Just because she didn’t want a relationship didn’t mean her hormones couldn’t react to a man’s embrace.
“You’re right. Creepy dude is gone,” she said with satisfaction and a way to distract herself from her physical interest in Griff.
“If you’re done shopping, I’ll walk you back to the hotel.”
“I don’t need a guardian, Griff. I can take care of myself.”
“Yeah, but I don’t like the guy. Something isn’t right about him. Humor me. I’d feel better if I could walk you back.”
“Are you done shopping for the day?”
“There’s a music shop I want to look in.”
“Then go ahead. I’m beat already. I’ll head back to the hotel.” On impulse she patted her cross-body bag. “I’ve got a personal can of mace in here. And we aren’t attached to at the hip. You can’t be with me everywhere.”
For a moment he looked like he might argue, but then he said, “You’re right. I can’t.” He drew in a deep breath. “Be careful.” She started to walked away, but he said, “Wait. What about that hike?”
“What time?”
“I’ll meet you in the lobby at eight in the morning if that isn’t too early.”
They exchanged cell phone numbers; she put his right into her smartphone, and he tapped her phone number into his.
“Technology,” she said. “Gotta love it.”
“Yeah, how did we survive before cell phones?”
She turned away and headed toward the resort. “See you later.”
As she put steps between her and Griff, she stayed alert to who was around her and shrugged off the creepy feeling that Dougray might be somewhere watching her.
Blackout: Chapter Three
Tuesday
Griff’s cell phone rang at seven a.m as he got out of the shower. He left the bathroom naked and dripping and grabbed the phone when he saw it was his sister calling. Worry punched him. She never called him this early.
“Hey, Diane. What’s up? Everything okay?”
“Hey, big brother, did I get you out of bed?” Her voice was cheerful.
Relief made him swallow hard. He had to stop imagining the bogeyman around every corner when it came to his sister. Even though she was a year older than he was, he’d always felt like the responsible one.
“I was hoping you’d stop by Montana on the way back home,” she said.
“Montana isn’t on the way back home.”
“Aw, come on. We haven’t seen you in forever.”
“Work’s been a bear, and I’m fairly new at this federal marshal stuff. They keep me on a short string.”
Her sigh was colored with a hint of impatience. “Sorry. I know you hate spontaneity.”
“Yeah, well you’re always spontaneous. If you’d invited me before the trip started I could have fit Montana into the picture.”
He glanced at the clock. At this rate he’d be late to go hiking with Cassie.
“How much vacation do you have left?” she asked.
He heard pots and pans clanking in the background. He went back into the bathroom and grabbed his towel. “Until Sunday. Then it’s back to work.”
“Fine.” Resignation and irritation edged her voice.
He didn’t want to argue with her. “How’s Deke?”
“He gets his cast off in a week. He says it itches like crazy and it’s driving him batty.”
He put the phone on speaker and dried off. “Sorry to hear that. I told him—”
“Yeah, yeah. He heard you the first time, Griff. He was wearing the helmet and the knee and elbow pads.”
A muscle in his jaw panged, and he rubbed the tightness away with his fingers. He had to stop clenching his damned jaw when he was irritated. He knew he had a tendency to overprotect anyone the way he had Cassie yesterday when Dougray followed them. Last night he’d awakened in a cold sweat, his heart pounding. He didn’t have the PTSD so many of his comrades did from the war. No, he suffered dreams about his sister and the awful things that had been done to her all those years ago when she was fifteen and Griff only fourteen. For some reason that experience had made grooves in his psyche far more indelible and permanent.
“I get it.” Griff cleared his throat. “Everything else at home good?”
“Everything is wonderful for a change. Pete got a promotion to sergeant.”
Griff smiled, the tension easing a little. “Good deal. Tell him congratulations.”
“Will do.”
His brother-in-law had turned his life around from teenaged thug to upstanding citizen and sheriff’s deputy. Diane’s life, though, always seemed on the edge to Griff. A strong wind was all it would take to blow it over.
“Tell Deke his uncle will show him the right way to skateboard when I do visit.”
“Deke is fifteen, not four,” Diane said, her voice tinged with that slight whine that told him he’d nagged too well. “Things happen. You can’t control everything.”
“Yeah, I get it.”
He loved his sister but she also drove him to the edge of insanity sometimes. “Hey, I’d love to talk longer but I have to be somewhere by eight, and I forgot to set my alarm last night and got up late.”
“That must have screwed with your planning.”
“Yeah.” The word came out with a hint of sarcasm.
&n
bsp; “Okay, okay. Don’t have a cow. Call me later?”
“Yeah. I’ll call you tonight.”
They signed off, and in record time he finished dressing. He grabbed a breakfast bar. No time for a more elaborate breakfast. He went into the bathroom and looked at his scruffy jaw. He hadn’t shaved since Saturday, and his beard had gotten bristly as hell. What did he care? He was on vacation. He stared into the mirror at his disreputable appearance and wondered if he’d given Cassie beard burn. Nah, not likely. He’d taken care to kiss her softly so he wouldn’t scare her. When he’d kissed her, he knew Dougray would see them and hopefully get the message. At the same time, Griff had loved kissing Cassie. Damn, she’d tasted good, and he’d wanted to take her back to his room and have a nice long bout of sweaty sex. He knew their relationship wouldn’t go that far, fairly certain Cassie Kovac didn’t engage in nasty, hot sex. She’d responded to his kiss, but just barely. When she’d refused to allow him to walk her back to the resort, he’d been torn between worry and admiration. Curiosity ate at him, though. He guessed she’d probably been hurt in the past by a man, and that chip on her shoulder wouldn’t allow him to get any closer. Which was too bad. He hadn’t had sex in what seemed like forever, and even if he didn’t want a long-term relationship with her, he had a feeling sex between them would feel pretty amazing.
He shrugged. It didn’t matter. He could spend time with a woman and not feel like he needed to protect her or get involved. It was obvious Cassie was doing fine on her own.
With a sigh he took out his shaving kit.
* * *
In the lobby, Penny Cribbs stood behind the reception counter and smiled at Cassie like she had a secret. Penny’s short frame moved quickly for a lady who carried significant weight. Her smile always welcomed, and her voice carried far and wide. Despite the friendliness, Cassie found Penny a bit abrasive at times.
Cassie glanced around the lobby and soaked in the atmosphere. Warmth crackled from the nearby fireplace. Cassie was glad she’d stayed here—the small resort hotel had a lot of amenities in its old Victorian facade. It was three floors, thirty rooms. Not a large resort, but the pool, tennis courts and small spa gave a luxury ambiance to the shabby elegance. Burgundy velvet draped windows allowed in sparkling light. Matching overstuffed Victorian couches and chairs beckoned a body to sit. After she’d had the interesting encounter with Griff in town yesterday, she’d returned to the resort without seeing Dougray. She’d enjoyed time in her room reading, sleeping and watching some useless television. Relaxing felt wonderful.
“Morning, Cassie. Can I help you?” Penny asked.
Cassie crossed to the fireplace and held her hands out to the flame. The lobby was deserted except for the two of them.
“No, it’s fine. I’m waiting for Griff.”
Penny patted her short salt and pepper hair as she leaned on the counter. “Well, well. What are you guys doing today?”
Cassie couldn’t be mad at the woman’s nosiness. “Hiking back to the Point.”
“Aha. Well, do you have a lunch all packed?”
“I don’t think we’ll be up there that late.”
“Are you sketching again?”
“Probably.”
In fact, Cassie hoped to stay up there a good part of the morning so she could draw.
“Now be careful up at the Point,” Penny said. “You never can tell what will happen up there. Don’t ever go alone.”
Cassie blinked. She hadn’t expected the woman to say that.
Before Cassie could speak, Griff came down the stairs. Today he wore a rain jacket over a red flannel shirt, jeans and boots. She’d also worn a sweater and her coat and hat, ready to brave a cold breeze that had formed overnight.
“Ta-ta.” Penny waved goodbye and turned to her computer.
“Hey, good morning,” Griff said. “Ready?”
“Morning. I’m barely awake. Stayed up too late last night. Too much laziness I guess.”
“I didn’t set my alarm and almost woke up too late. Then my sister called…” He shrugged.
They headed out the door and started east on the short road that lead to Main Street. Out of caution she looked around, half certain she’d see Dougray lurking in every corner. There was no sign of Dougray, and the sunny, crisp morning removed apprehension. She’d placed the mace in her backpack, deciding she didn’t plan to go anywhere without it.
As they headed up Main Street and toward the dirt road that would lead to their destination, she threw a look at Griff. His expression showed concentration and a shadow of worry.
“Are you okay? You’re awfully quiet,” she said.
His attention snapped toward her a moment, then turned back to walking. “I’m great.”
“Everything all right with your family? Your sister is fine?”
He didn’t look at her, but a smile touched his mouth. “As fine as she’ll ever be. With her it’s a day-to-day thing.”
“Uh-huh. Why is that?”
“She can be a drama queen. For a while there every time she turned around life threw some new obstacle in her path.”
Ah. She understood that. “Everything is always and never and the worst ever.”
He laughed softly. “Yeah. That’s Diane.”
“I’m sure that’s part of why my father divorced my mother.”
“It wasn’t a mutual thing?” he asked.
“Of course it was. They both have their irritating habits, believe me.”
“Don’t we all? My parents—”
When he stopped and didn’t continue, she glanced over at him. “They had a bad marriage?”
“The worst.”
Curiosity rung a question from her. “Do you believe in marriage?”
“Nah.” He threw a glance her way. “I just believe in sex.”
She snorted a laugh, and he joined her with a hearty laugh of his own. Heat filled her face as her libido went into overdrive. She shook off an image of him kissing her again, only this time with full on passion.
The dirt road came up on their left, and they crossed the road to join it.
They hadn’t gone far before the urge to discover more about her hiking companion made her ask, “What do you do when your sister is a drama queen?”
“Most of the time I hose up. I try to dig her ass out of the mess.” He shifted his backpack. “Always been that way. She married a scumbag when she was twenty. She’s on husband number two, and he’s a sheriff’s deputy. It’s his job now to keep her out of trouble.”
“Does he?”
“Most of the time.”
“Is she your little sister?”
“One year older.”
“Wow. You’d think it would be the other way around. She’d have to dig your ass out of the mess.”
“Nope. We’ve got a major case of co-dependence going on.”
She sighed. “I understand that, too. I did that with my ex husband for too long.”
“Did he drink?”
“No. He was just mean, ruthless and violent.”
Griff stopped in his tracks. She halted along with him.
“Physically abusive?” he asked, worry on his strong features.
She drew in a deep breath, surprised she’d started this discussion with him. “Never mind. I shouldn’t have started this conversation.”
“But you did start it. So let’s finish it.”
“All right. But let’s keep walking.”
They continued, and she bit the bullet. “It’s a long story.”
“We’ve got a lot of long stories between us. Might as well continue.”
Obviously he wasn’t going to let her off the hook now she’d started something. “I married Harold when I was nineteen. I only knew him for two months before he proposed. I thought I loved him. He was controlling. Emotionally at first.” She sighed. “I mean, he was like that before I married him, and my parents objected to the marriage in the first place. My dad blamed himself because Harold worked with my father i
n real estate and they had business dealings together. Anyway, Harold accumulated wealth before I married him and I knew he was filthy rich just like my parents. But at that time I was all about the lifestyle and wanted to keep it.” When Griff didn’t say anything she continued. “I was a shallow twit.”
“I have a hard time believing you were ever shallow.”
She smiled, liking his compliment. “Thanks, but I really was.”
“Was your husband older than you?”
“Twenty years older,” she said.
“And that twenty year gap didn’t work for you guys, I take it?”
“We had little to nothing in common. Pretty quickly I figured out he’d married me as a trophy wife.”
“You were his second wife?”
“No. He’d just waited until he found someone he could manipulate and put on display. I wore all the right clothes, said the right things, volunteered for the right charities.”
“I get the picture.”
“The picture is so damned big, I’m not sure anyone can get the whole thing.”
“Try me.”
She met his gaze head on and saw the sincerity there. Maybe confessing to him was like unloading on a stranger.
“Did he hit you?” he asked.
“No. Not until…” She swallowed hard as a lump formed where her throat should be. “He was the master of the backhanded compliment. He put me down in about every conceivable way he could. I never did anything right. My friends weren’t the right kind of people, and even if they were I didn’t speak to them the right way. Honestly, I wasn’t even physically attracted to him. So for most of our marriage we didn’t have sex, and I found out he’d been going to high-class call girls and having mistresses along the way. Anyway, I put up with that garbage for about ten years. I told him I wanted a divorce on the same day he lost a wad speculating on the stock market.”
They’d reached the area where the desolate ranch house stood. She drew her pack off her shoulders and rummaged inside for water. She took a long cool drink, half stalling and not wanting to finish this story. Griff slipped his pack of his shoulders and retrieved his own water bottle.
Holding Out For A Hero: SEALs, Soldiers, Spies, Cops, FBI Agents and Rangers Page 120
