Nobody's Hero

by Liz Lee

  She nodded, then he heard her sharp intake of breath. Eyes sharp, he leaned forward as she exhaled loudly. “Oh my God, Riley. Charlie probably was killed because of me. What if the rumors are right and the accident really wasn’t an accident?”

  Riley’d already thought of that. “It’s just another puzzle, Callah. Something we’ll figure out.”

  She touched her hand to her forehead and shook her head. “I wanted him dead, Riley. After he left me I can’t tell you how many times I thought it. And then when it happened I was almost happy. I couldn’t help but think he deserved it. But he didn’t. He didn’t deserve to die any more than that poor girl in Pittsburgh.”

  She was beating herself up, and that wasn’t going to get her any closer to the truth. “Look, Callah, I can’t think of a single person who would hold your anger at Charlie Benson against you. The man was a jerk of unbelievable proportions.”

  He sat on the couch next to the chair, so close their knees nearly touched, and waited for her to meet his eyes. “I didn’t even really know him, but I’ve heard you talk about him and I’ve seen what he did to your confidence, and I’m glad he’s dead. It just saves me from having to kick his ass.”

  Riley brushed her hair off her face and hoped she really heard him. “He tried to destroy you, Callah. Don’t waste time with a guilt trip on him. But maybe you can remember something more from his meetings or from the parties.”

  She didn’t pull away from him, but she did shake her head. “I don’t know Riley. He was gone so much. And then after my mom died there were these phone calls.”

  “Phone calls?”

  She nodded. “Strange people asking to speak to her. I just figured Charlie’s girlfriends had found a new way to torture me.”

  The pain in her voice hurt him. Riley knew this wasn’t the time. He knew they should concentrate on life and death and possible killers, but right now as he sat across from Callah with the rays from setting sun slanting through the curtain and shining on her hair making her look even more like the princess she should be, he couldn’t stop himself.

  He brushed his thumb down her cheek, let it rest on the edge of her bottom lip. It was as soft as he’d imagined. Her breath caught and her chest rose and fell as his heartbeat thrummed hard and fast.

  “I already told you, Callah. Charlie Benson was unbelievably stupid.” And then he did what he’d been denying himself for hours. He kissed her.

  Riley’s lips were as soft as she’d imagined, as she remembered.

  At first, Callah let him kiss her because she wanted to feel desired. To feel pretty. To forget for just a minute all the terrible truths she needed to uncover.

  When he stopped after a second impossibly soft kiss, she knew it wasn’t enough. Not by a long shot.

  She looked into his eyes and he looked into hers and heat unfurled low in her belly and sprawled outward, taking possession before she even realized it. When she raised her hand to the back of his neck, he didn’t resist. She met his mouth with hers and this time, there was no softness. No gentle kisses for poor Callah Crenshaw whose bastard husband left her, whose family had built her entire life on one dangerous lie after another.

  This was a kiss to forget. A kiss to erase everything from her mind except the incredibly sexy man who said he’d kick Charlie Benson’s ass if Charlie were still alive.

  Mouths and tongues melded, danced, mocked. His fingers slowly massaged her back and she heard a groan she recognized as her own as the heat unfurled inside her reminding her of all the good things about making love with a man who truly wanted her instead of a man worried about the size of her thighs.

  She wanted him. Now. Here.

  It didn’t matter that it might be wrong. That it was about sex. That love wasn’t a part of the equation. That it was a stalling technique to wipe away the realities that threatened to bombard her if she took her mouth from his.

  She climbed onto his lap. Settled where the juncture of her thighs met the hardness between his. How had she forgotten this power? This joy.

  Riley pulled back first. His breath hard. Fast. Not nearly fast or hard enough.

  “Callah. Honey.”

  She didn’t want to hear his voice. She wanted to feel him everywhere.

  She started down for another kiss but he held her back. “We can’t do this, Callah. Not now.”

  As if to accentuate the point, his cell phone’s ring tone echoed through the room.

  Oh my God. Callah wanted to die of embarrassment. He was literally pushing her away. Holding her back. She was sprawled on top of him, and he was the one stopping.

  She opened her mouth to say something. Anything, but the words wouldn’t come. Not with his hands wrapped around her arms. Not with her pressed into his hardness.

  Somehow she climbed off his lap without embarrassing herself further.

  By the time she turned to face him, Riley was on the phone with his brother. All business. As if the kiss had never happened.

  Riley opened his phone and tried to look relaxed. Damn she was hot. Her nipples puckered against that dress, her cheeks red from his unshaven chin. Her lips still swollen from his kisses.

  “Dammit, Riley. Are you hearing me at all?” His brother’s voice snapped.

  He needed to focus on what Rand was saying. Really needed to focus. He turned away from Callah and brushed his hand through his hair. “Yeah, yeah. I’m listening. What’s new?”

  “The Colonel has been arrested. His office is locked down.”

  Riley closed his eyes and bit back his automatic response. How was he supposed to tell her this?

  “What’s the charge?”

  “Espionage. I’m still looking for your answers but this has made things considerably more complicated. I’m catching a flight out there as soon as I can make arrangements.”

  Riley wanted to tell his brother to stay there, to get the answers. But he needed all the help he could get to keep Callah safe. Whatever mess her family’d been involved in, it had just gotten a lot worse.

  “You better get Callah prepared. The press corps here is going crazy. They don’t have a name yet, but they will shortly. And whatever else you do, hang tight. This is bigger than anything I’ve been involved in. Don’t call anyone or do anything until you hear back from me.”

  Riley agreed, updated his brother on what they knew so far, then hung up his phone and logged on to CNN. A small item under breaking news. No names. Barely more than a headline. Pentagon employee held in espionage probe. This was going to kill her.

  While Riley talked to his brother, Callah called Jen. She trusted Riley, but after that kiss, she needed to talk to someone who wasn’t him.

  The last thing she expected was Jen’s answer. “My God, Callah. What the heck’s going on?”

  “What?” Callah tried to hold her panic at bay. Jen couldn’t know anything yet.

  “I’ve had no less than five phone calls from reporters asking me for an off-the-record confirmation of your location, and a federal agent stopped by the condo thirty minutes ago asking me strange questions about you. He gave me his card and told me to call if you checked in.” She whispered the last part of this as if that mattered. Callah didn’t really understand the FBI, but she had a pretty good idea that whispering wouldn’t make a difference if they were listening in.

  Suddenly talking about that disaster of a kiss ranked dead last on her list of priorities.

  Turning around she saw the anger and frustration on Riley’s face as he clicked from one news screen to another, and she could tell he knew. Whatever had the reporters calling Jen, the FBI stopping by, he knew the answers.

  “Listen, Jen, I can’t really answer your questions right now. Just be careful.” She didn’t know why that last was so important. Jen was her friend. She hadn’t even liked Charlie. Surely she was safe.

  “Be careful? Callah, are you okay? Do I need to call the police? I saw on the news that they can trace cell phone locations now.”

  Callah almost s
aid yes. If she said yes, it would all end. The California authorities would get involved and this would all be over. Riley’s photos of the dog walker showed local police. California police would be okay.

  Only she didn’t know that. Charlie was dead, so was that other Callah Crenshaw, and the dog walker was in Burkette and she couldn’t reach her dad.

  But with Riley, she suddenly realized, she felt safe. Secure.

  Crazy.

  He was reporter and she was the better shot, but here in his closed up lake house alone with him and his computer she felt safe.

  “No, don’t call anyone.” She wasn’t sure it mattered now anyway. She’d have to tell Riley about the FBI. “I’ll call you later, Jen.”

  She hung up the phone and took a deep breath. “What’s going on, Riley?” When she walked to his side, he moved to the Google screen.

  “Was your dad involved in military intelligence, anything like that?”

  Maybe she should just tell him now. Tell him what Jen said. But he was so focused on the question she decided to answer him first. “I don’t think he was. He was a teacher. Why? What’s going on with my dad?”

  He typed her father’s name into the search field and pressed enter. Colonel Matthew Crenshaw. Retired Air Force.

  No unusual returns. Just page after page about her father’s distinguished military career. But there was nothing normal about the look on Riley’s face.

  “Riley? Tell me what’s going on. Tell me right now. Jen said reporters are calling her. An FBI agent stopped by her apartment. They’re looking for me.”

  For him to pause now after everything else, she couldn’t imagine what his brother had said. Suddenly she didn’t want to know, but it was too late to take back the demand.

  “Your dad’s been arrested on espionage charges. Rand says it will hit the news any minute.”

  Disbelief hit Callah followed quickly by anger. “No. No that doesn’t make sense. Your brother’s wrong.”

  He didn’t argue, just pulled up CNN and she read the headline.

  “It can’t be true. Riley, my dad would never…” Her voice trailed off as she realized she didn’t know anything about the man she’d called her father.

  “Oh my God.”

  She shook her head trying to clear it, but all she could see was the new headline and the photo of the woman she didn’t know who looked just like her and the news footage of Charlie’s plane wreck and the dog walker standing in her back yard with that gun.

  “Oh my God, Riley. My dad …” She stopped and tried to catch her breath, but her heart was beating too hard. It thudded in her chest as if she were in the middle of a marathon. Her head felt like it would explode any second.

  “We’ve got to call someone, Riley. The FBI, the CIA. Someone. Anyone. We need help.”

  “Shhh.” He pulled her close, hugged her tight and whispered against her ear. “It’s okay, Callah. It’s okay.”

  His touch calmed her some, but not enough. She wasn’t sure he heard her. Pushing away she tried to make him understand. “An FBI agent has talked to my best friend, Riley. My dad…” She couldn’t say anything else, couldn’t make her voice work any more.

  One minute she was falling apart slowly and the next she was crying uncontrollably. And this time when he pulled her close, she let him hold her, rock her softly as she said the words again and again. “My dad, Riley. My dad.”

  Riley brushed the tear soaked hair off Callah’s face and let her cry as he held her.

  Tears freaked him out, but she needed this. When she stopped crying, he still held her, silently hugging her close, giving her the time she needed to recover.

  When she finally did, she pulled away and covered her face with her hands. “God, I’m such a mess.”

  “You’re not a mess, Callah. You’re human. You’ve had a difficult day and it just got worse. Even strong women need to cry sometimes.”

  She laughed bitterly. “I’m not strong at all, Riley. You have no idea how weak I am.”

  He had to make her see she was wrong. “I think you’re probably one of the strongest women I’ve ever known. You left everything and started over. You’ve faced the media speculation about your ex’s death with grace. You’re here with me now.”

  She didn’t look like she believed a word he said, but she didn’t argue with him. After a few seconds she repeated her earlier words. “We need to call someone, Riley. This is too big for me to just stay here, hidden away, putting you in danger.”

  “I’ll be fine. And we’re not calling anyone yet. My brother said he’ll be here soon. We can at least wait until we hear back from him.”

  Biting her bottom lip, she nodded. “Okay. We’ll wait. But if it gets too dangerous, we’re calling someone.”

  The last thing in the world she needed to worry about was him, but he could see she wasn’t budging this time, so after a few seconds, he agreed.

  And then he set out to help her move on. “You want to see if the story’s online yet?”

  She shook her head, surprising him. “No.”

  “You sure?” He definitely wanted to.

  “Positive. One thing I’ve learned over the last few years is the press rarely tells the real story. No offense, Riley, but your profession isn’t about the truth. It’s about ratings and sales.”

  He couldn’t argue with her there. “Good reporters find the truth and while doing so gain readers and viewers.”

  “I haven’t met a good reporter interested in the truth then.”

  “Ouch.” He smiled so she’d see he wasn’t really offended.

  “I’m not necessarily talking about you. You’re not just a reporter.”

  “I’m not?” He liked the way her cheeks reddened slightly under his perusal. Liked that she saw him as more than a reporter. Because as much as he wanted this story, he wanted her safety more.

  “You’re a friend, too.”

  The loop-de-loop was back. Even now in the midst of this hell, his smile made her stomach drop to her toes. She needed to get away from him before she did something stupid like kiss him again.

  Standing, she moved across the room and then faced him. “I’m sorry about earlier.”

  His brow furrowed in confusion. “Earlier?”

  God, he was going to make her say it out loud. “The kiss. I went a little crazy and I apologize.”

  “You apologize?”

  Okay, he sounded a little mad, which wasn’t her intention at all. But she wasn’t going to say anything more about it.

  He, however, wasn’t done.

  “Damn, Darlin’. You can’t apologize for a kiss like that. You’ll make me think I’ve lost my touch.”

  She blushed an even deeper shade of red and shot him a pure go to hell look. “Don’t make fun of me, Riley.”

  “Aw, Hon. Don’t go confusing pure-D appreciation with making fun. You are one hot babe. You’ve always been sexy as hell. It was hard enough keeping my hands off you. Now I’ve got to go around trying to think about how to keep you safe, figuring out puzzles and writing stories all while remembering the feel of you sitting on top of me, your tongue inside my mouth, your left breast so close I could’ve….”

  Her heart pounded as heat radiated through her body. She held out her hand. “Okay. Okay. Stop.”

  And just like that, he did. “As long as we’ve got that cleared up.”

  “Perfectly.” She couldn’t sit there talking about that kiss without wanting to relive it. And that was out of the question. Time to change topics. “Tell me about you.”

  “Hmm?” Riley was having a heck of a time not marching across the room and kissing her breathless again. Talking about it had made it all the more real. He wanted her. Bad.

  “Tell me about you.”

  “Me?”

  “You know, the cabin, the boat, your job, your life.”

  Oh man. She wanted the whole touchy, feely share conversation. One hot kiss and they’d graduated to the talk phase of the relationship. He wasn
’t going there. He couldn’t.

  “I inherited the boat and cabin from a nice man.” Understatement, but it worked.

  “The man in the picture?”

  “Yeah. Sparky.” She wouldn’t remember Sparky. No one in town really knew him. They’d just benefited from his money over the years.

  “You spent a lot of time with him?”

  Man, this really sucked. He cleared his throat. “Yeah. Kind of like a grandfather.”

  He wasn’t going to tell her how Sparky’d rescued him from the hell of a loveless home the night when Riley was twelve years old. How the old man had followed him out of the 7-Eleven and made him empty his pockets of the stolen merchandise and then made the deal that Riley clean the store every night for a month in exchange for his silence. How now that he was older he understood his father’s grief, but he didn’t understand his fist or his belt or his words. In fact, he was done with this conversation period.

  He looked at the clock over the stove. Rand should be calling with news soon. The loaded gun sat ominously on the counter next to his computer. He looked back at the lake. It was still crowded with typical early evening summer traffic. The boat from earlier was nowhere to be seen.

  And then he turned his head just in time to see a man walking along the edge of his dock.

  The dog walker.

  He’d found them.

  Callah saw the alertness in Riley’s eyes, the way his back stiffened. An almost predatory feel to his entire being.

  And she knew.

  He was out there.

  The flight in fear, the boat ride, the clues they’d gathered, none of it mattered. The man who wanted her had found her.

  “How?” Callah’s whispered word echoed through the bare living room.

  Riley shook his head slightly, frowned. “I don’t know. But the news about your dad was a pretty good indication these aren’t your every day bad guys, Callah.”

  He was right and dammit that frustrated the heck out of her. “We can’t win.”

  “We’re not going down without a fight.”

  She laughed, shook her head. She’d made her decision. “You sound like Clint Eastwood, Riley.”

  She inserted the loaded clip into the revolver.