by S A Monk
With a hunk of hair between her forefinger and middle finger, ready to cut, she gave it a yank and asked tartly, “How ‘bout if I just shave it all off?”
Nick yelped, Christopher laughed, then Nick scowled.
“Hey, sport, why don’t you go show grandma your new haircut?” As soon as Christopher was out of the room, Nick reached behind him to hook an arm around Hanna. With one strong tug, he pulled her in front of him. “Okay, what’s wrong? You’re not usually this grouchy and moody?”
“How would you know, Colonel?”
She tried to squirm away from him, so he trapped her between his hard muscular thighs. “I know,” he insisted, further securing her with a big hand on either hip. His thumbs dug lightly, but firmly into her pelvic bones. She glared down at him, and he stared back up inquisitively at her. “Did you go into the hospital to do some last minute paperwork yesterday?”
She nodded sullenly, still in his disturbing grip, her breathing a little erratic.
“You didn’t call me to give you a ride.”
“You fixed my car.” She sent him a snide smile. “By the way, thank you. It runs great.”
“It runs like crap. You need a new car.”
“So, everyone has told me.”
“Did you talk to Ashley?”
“Of course. I work with her.”
He nodded like he had just figured out the reason for her mood. “So, she told you I asked her out for a drink after work, didn’t she?” The look on her lovely, disgruntled face gave him his answer. He saw the flash of jealousy. It pleased him immensely, but he hid his pleasure, knowing if it showed, it would make her even angrier. “That’s all it was,” he tried to pacify her. “A drink after work.”
Hanna shrugged, adopting her best nonchalant pose. “Your love life is none of my business.”
“I don’t have a love life.” His thumbs started to caress away any hurt her might have inflicted on her hip bones. “I don’t have a girlfriend, here or anywhere else— in case you were wondering.” He saw her try to hide her pleasure at that bit of news. He was glad that she liked the fact that he wasn’t involved with anyone. “Ashley is and always has been one of the biggest gossips in the community. She knows everything about everybody. I just wanted to pump her for a little of that information.”
Hanna couldn’t help it. The way he had put that made her burst into a laugh. “Pump her for information? Geez, Nick! That sounds terrible!”
He smiled because she was laughing and had apparently forgiven him. “Would you like to know what I found out?”
“Okay. What did you learn super sleuth?”
She saw his eyes travel along the length of her bare legs, stopping at the hem of her shorts, which were only a few inches from the juncture of her thighs. His assessment was heated and slow. She took a little breath, feeling all shaky inside, as well as disappointed when he dropped his hands from her hips and released her from the grip of his bare legs. Her eyes flashed quickly to the juncture of his thighs. She could see the outline of his arousal. Nervously, she reached out to adjust the drape of his plastic cape, then retreated to a safer position behind him again.
He hadn’t answered her first question, so she asked what she’d been wondering all last night. “Where did you and Ashley go?” How perverse of her! Did she really want to know?
“To Yancy’s.”
“Wow, aren’t you the cheap date!”
“I just took her for a drink, nowhere else.” He turned his head to her, but she doubted he saw her look of relief. “Yancy’s is an interesting place after the dinner crowd leaves.”
“Scary is more like it. The clientele all seem to be bikers, drunks, and thugs. I get to patch a lot of them up on the worst nights.”
“Last night wasn’t one of those. It isn’t as bad as it was three years ago.”
He was still looking at her over his plastic draped shoulder, and she couldn’t hide the recognition the memory of three years ago brought to her expression. “I wouldn’t know. I haven’t been back into the bar past seven o’clock since then.”
He turned around, with his back to her again. Hanna began cutting his hair, forcing herself to concentrate on her task, not him.
“Anyway, Ashley told me Phillip Douglas lives pretty darn well on a police chief’s salary. He’s got a big new house, a fancy cabin cruiser, and a couple of new cars. His kids go to private school, and he’s got a mistress in Seattle.”
“How does Ashley know that?”
Nick shrugged. “Who knows? She didn’t know much about Jeff Thomas, though. I guess he’s fairly new to the area. None of his deputies like him too well.”
Hanna moved to his side to trim the hair around his ears.
“Because we were at Yancy’s, Ashley told me what she knew about him, too.”
Some of what he told her, Hanna already knew. Because he ran a popular downtown business, a lot of the town people knew about Yancy. He had lived in the community for six or so years. Nick was correct, though. Ashley had been a good source of information.
After his haircut was finished, he tried to coax Hanna into going for a ride on his bike. He had bought two extra helmets, one for Christopher and one for her. But there was no talking her into getting on the back of his motorcycle. Christopher was more than eager to go for a ride with his uncle, though, despite Hanna’s concerns for his safety.
While they were gone, Hanna helped Jessie with dinner since both families were eating together again. She loved switching back and forth between the two families for Sunday dinners. Jessie and Colleen were both fantastic cooks. Sitting around the table, sharing an excellent meal and lively conversation was a highlight of her hard work week.
“So, is everything okay between you and Nick?” Jessie asked as Hanna vigorously tore up a variety of greens for the salad.
“Sure.”
“I was afraid you were upset with him for some reason since you had me take you home the other night.”
From her peripheral vision, she saw how closely Nick’s mother was watching her. She turned and reassured her with a smile. “Everything is okay, Jessie.”
“I heard about that kiss in the park last Sunday.” Jessie laughed at the startled look Hanna shot her. “Christopher told me all about it. He thought it was yucky.”
Hanna laughed, but she could still feel the heat in her cheeks as she hurriedly began chopping fresh tomatoes for the salad.
“I gather you’ve forgiven my son for Ashley Davis.”
Hanna shook her head, grinning. Jessie missed nothing. “She’s probably more to his taste, anyway,” she commented with an audible sigh.
“Nonsense!” the older woman disagreed. “If he wanted her, he could have had her twenty years ago.”
“He could have had me, too, twenty years ago, Jessie,” Hanna confided quietly.
“You were fifteen,” Jessie reminded her. “Even then, Nick was not the kind of man to take advantage of that.”
Hanna turned to smile at her friend, and saw Nick, then his trailing shadow, Christopher, come through the back porch door. Dear lord, she hoped he’d been too far away to hear her comment to his mother!
“Smells good in here, ladies,’ he greeted them, grinning and sniffing. “How long before dinner?”
“Half an hour,” his mother supplied. “Just waiting on the chicken in the oven. Colleen, Christine, and the baby are on their way over.”
“Good. Then we have time for your first self-defense class.” When both women just stared at him with matching expressions of disbelief and skepticism, he laughed, motioning them outside. “Since we don’t have pads, let’s go over to the grass.”
Christopher was jumping up and down with glee, holding Nick’s hand while he kicked this way and that. It was obvious to Hanna that Nick had already taught his nephew something.
Both women followed reluctantly. “If you think you’re going to throw me on the ground, son, think again,” Jessie warned her son.
Colleen and
Christine met them on the lawn. “What’s going on?” Hanna’s grandmother asked.
“Uncle Nick’s gonna do karate with all us,” Christopher answered excitedly, then gave his version of a side kick, which backfired and caused him to land on his bottom. Nick reached down immediately to pull him to his feet, but the ten-year-old was laughing, unfazed by his fall. He seemed to be the only one who thought this looked like fun. The women were giving Nick very dubious stares.
He sent Christopher to sit on the grass a few feet away. “Okay, ladies, I’m going to show you a few simple moves that you could use to deal with an attacker,” he started. “Christine, give the baby to Mom, and I’ll start with you.”
Christine stepped up to him without hesitation.
“Suppose you’re alone at night, on the street or even in your house, and you’re confronted by someone who is intent on stealing your purse or worse.”
“That’s why I keep a shotgun in the house,” Colleen interjected.
“Well, if you get caught by surprise, then,” Nick relented, giving the grandmother a reproachful look. “If he comes at you from the front, take the heel of your hand,” he stated as he moved Christine into position in front of him. “Like this.” He demonstrated by taking the heel of Christine’s hand and pulling it up under his nose. Then he stepped back. “Now pretend to hit me like that.” When she did, mimicking his previous demonstration, without actually hitting him, he grinned in approval. “Let me tell you, if she had connected, it would have hurt like hell.”
He motioned to his mother. “Mom, you’re next.”
“You toss me on my backside, and I’ll disown you.”
“Mom, I wouldn’t do that to an old lady like you.” He laughed, and she jabbed him in the ribs. “Okay, that might work, too,” he choked as he moved in front of her. “The other thing you could do to ward off an attacker from the front is this.” Using his first two fingers, he opened them and thrust them toward Jessie’s eyes. “Now, you try,” he urged her. She did, again without actually coming into contact with his eyes. “If he’s blinded, he can’t come after you, giving you a chance to get away. Just keep those hands, arms, and fingers stiff.”
“Okay, your turn, Colleen.”
“I don’t know about this, Nicholas. I’m too old for this martial arts stuff,” she protested, moving to stand in front of him anyway.
“Not martial arts, Colleen, self-defense,” he corrected, taking her gently by the elbow. “Even this much might save your life or your virtue.”
“I’m too old to run, young man,” she reminded him sternly. “The culprit would catch an old lady like me in no time.”
“Not if you did this.” Nick brought his knee up. “Use a knee or a foot or even a fist to his groin, and he’ll be bent over in pain long enough for even an old lady to get away.” He gave her a wary grin. “Try it— carefully, of course.”
Colleen did. She actually got her knee up far enough, too, though she didn’t make contact with Nick’s groin. “Now try the balled fist.” She did, and again she didn’t touch him with it.
Colleen beamed with pleasure, stepped back, and nodded to Hanna. “Your turn, sweetie.”
Hanna rolled her eyes. She was trying to hide behind the others, for once hoping Nick would ignore her.
“I wanna try!” Christopher called out, giving her a reprieve.
“Later, sport,” Nick promised him. “Right now I need your Auntie Hanna to come out from hiding and give this a shot.”
“No fair, Uncle Nick!”
He smiled patiently at his nephew. “I promise I’ll teach you some more moves later.”
Christopher wasn’t too happy about it, but nodded okay. Nick ruffled his hair, then reached behind Colleen to catch Hanna by the wrist. “Come on, Doctor. Your turn.”
With extreme reluctance, she stepped to the spot on the grass where he directed her.
“Okay, it’s possible your attacker could come up to you from behind. If that happens, I’ll show you how to flip the guy on his back using his own momentum. I wouldn’t recommend this to you, though, Colleen.” Nick moved behind Hanna. “If someone comes up and grabs you from the back, immediately drop to one knee and use the momentum of his body to throw him over your shoulder. Try it on me for real, Hanna.” She shot him a skeptical look over her shoulder. “Go on,” he encouraged her. “It’s okay. I know how to roll with it.”
She was thinking it would be amazing if it worked since he outweighed her by well over a hundred pounds. But she did as he’d instructed, dropping to one knee, then reaching back with a hand to grab his forearm and throw him over her shoulder.
Dropping her center of gravity threw him off balance enough that she was actually able to use his momentum to get him over her shoulder. He rolled, then landed on the grass, in front of her, with a loud thud.
Hanna was amazed, then horrified. He lay on his back, his eyes closed, looking like she’d knocked the wind out of him. With a little cry of dismay, she immediately crawled over to kneel at his side. His eyes snapped open. Cursing, he grabbed her by the shoulders and rolled her under him, pinning her to the ground with his big hard body.
“You never try to help the attacker, Doctor!” he growled at her, rising onto his hands and knees above her, but still so close that she could see the dark stubble of beard emerging as a five o’clock shadow along his jaw. His gray eyes were fiercely narrowed on her. “You knock the guy on his ass, then run like hell! Okay?” His unrelenting expression demanded her response.
“Okay.”
After her initial shock, Hanna was mortified, especially when she saw everyone intently watching the two of them.
Nick finally smiled at her, pushed to his feet, then reached a hand down to pull her to hers. She pretended to dust grass off her bottom while her face cooled.
Jessie shooed everyone into the house, mumbling something about dinner being almost ready. Christopher followed the women reluctantly, still grumbling about not getting a turn.
Not daring to look up, Hanna started for the back door.
Nick caught her hand in his. “I’m sorry I embarrassed you in front of everyone,” he murmured softly, giving her a slow half grin when she finally looked up at him. “But you can’t always be compassionate and concerned with everyone, Hanna.”
For a heartbeat too long, she stared into his thickly lashed eyes. Being this close to him, having him look at her in such a tender way was way too dangerous. When he released her, his hand rose to caress her flushed cheek. It took all of her willpower not to turn her lips into his calloused palm and kiss it. She thought of it, envisioned it, even felt it, then stepped away before her resistance failed her.
Dizzy from the effort and the moment, she faltered a little as she took a step toward the house. Nick hooked his arm around her waist and gave her a quick squeeze as he bent to whisper, “You should have done it, Doctor.”
CHAPTER 9
“HANNA SHOULD BE DOWN IN A FEW MINUTES.” Colleen McHenry eyed the man coming in through the back door of her kitchen. “So, how’s it going Colonel? Getting anywhere with your investigation?”
“I am, but it’s slow— a piece here, one there— like putting together a puzzle. Investigations are always like that, some more complicated than others.”
“And this one? Is it complicated?” Colleen got up from the table to pour a cup of coffee for her early morning guest.
“In the beginning, they are all, but I have a feeling this one is going to get straight forward pretty soon.”
Hanna’s grandmother sat back down and passed the cream and sugar to Nick. “Why is that?”
“Because things are beginning to line up.” He laughed at Colleen’s confused frown. “I know I sound oblique, but that’s because all I have are hunches right now. We’ll see where they lead.”
Colleen grinned at him. “And my granddaughter? How are things going between you two?”
Nick chuckled. “Better today than yesterday.” He and Hanna had planned to
take the Zodiac down the coastline to Discovery Cove today to talk to Nat Simms and some of his neighbors, then they were going to dive parts of Discovery Bay.
“She didn’t take well to your date with Ashley Davis, I imagine.”
“I never could hide a thing from you, Colleen.”
“Hanna’s just protecting her heart, Nicholas.”
“She is, huh?”
“She may have the IQ of a genius, but she has an amazingly fragile side to her.”
“She’s always been shy and self-conscious.”
Colleen nodded. “She also has this very crazy notion that she’s not pretty, just ordinary.” Nick raised an amazed eyebrow. “Silly, isn’t it?”
“Extremely.”
“Guess we’ll have to help her get over that nonsense, won’t we?”
“Absolutely.”
They were both laughing when Hanna came into the kitchen. “What’s so funny, you two?”
Colleen smiled at her granddaughter tenderly. “Just a little private humor.” She looked Hanna over with a close eye. “Where are your glasses? Did you forget them again? And how did you get down the stairway without them?” Everyone knew that without her eye glasses, Hanna couldn’t see a foot in front of her.
She took a couple of sips of her grandmother’s coffee, and grabbed half a piece of toast off of a plate set in the middle of the table, then spread a little marmalade on it. “When I dive, I wear my contacts.”
“What if you lose them?”
“They usually don’t come out when I’m diving. Maybe it’s the pressure.”
Colleen looked to Nick. “You better keep an eye out for her, Nicholas. She’s blind without her glasses, you know.”
“Grandma!”
Nick laughed. “I plan to keep a close eye on her. Did you bring your eyeglasses, just in case?” he asked Hanna.
“Yes, I did.” She patted her beach bag. “And an extra towel for you because you always forgot yours.”
“Well, you look very lovely this morning, dear,” Colleen complimented her.
