“Vi!” Sierra was surprised to see her.
The woman placed a hand on her lips, calling for silence. “Follow me,” she said quietly and hurried off, veering sharply to the right.
Ace hesitated, then decided to go with his instincts and hurried after her. They caught up with her just around the corner. She was standing by the fire escape. She pressed something into Sierra’s hand and pushed them gently towards the exit. “Get out quickly,” she said and left.
Just then, Ace heard a gunshot. The sound was muffled by a suppressor, but it was definitely a gun and it was close by. Quickly and efficiently, he went out the fire escape, taking Sierra with him. Outside the building, he recognized one of the people on his team.
“You can’t go back to your car,” she said and pointed to a black SUV just ahead of them. “Rusty is waiting for you guys. Go!”
They sprinted towards the car and were barely inside when Rusty pulled out, but not before they all heard another gunshot.
**
Ace walked into the kitchen in Sierra’s home later that night and headed straight for the coffeemaker. He’d just had a shower and his hair was still wet, but he needed some coffee and he needed to think. His mind replayed what had happened in the club. He’d been flirting with Sierra and having lots of fun when suddenly Emily had called a Code Red, which was a sign that they were in danger. He would head to the HQ in the morning for a debriefing.
He drank out of the coffee mug and the caffeine hit him instantly. He sighed and closed his eyes, appreciating the dark brew. Something still nagged at him. How had he missed all the signs? Why hadn’t he realized there was danger close by?
He paced slowly as the thought haunted him. He was there to keep Sierra safe and he almost got them both shot. Was he losing his touch, or was he just distracted by the overwhelming lust he felt for her?
He paused and drank more coffee as he thought about Sierra and how fantastic she’d been back at the club. He had seen the fear in her eyes when he’d mentioned that they needed to leave, had felt it in the way her hands had trembled in his, yet she had acted quickly and without argument. She’d kept up with him and she hadn’t complained even once. After they’d gotten shot at, he’d expected an emotional breakdown, but the only clue he’d had that she’d been affected by the whole thing was her eerie silence. As soon as they’d entered the house, she had gone straight into her room without a word. He worried that she might not be okay.
He was thinking about checking up on her when she walked into the kitchen.
“Hi,” she said and went straight to the fridge without looking at him.
Ace looked at her though. She’d changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top. Her hair was piled high on top of her head in some sort of knot, leaving her neck looking longer, more vulnerable. For some reason, he wanted to go to her, wrap her in his arms and tell her that it would all be fine. Except, he had no idea if it would. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration.
“Hey, you okay?” he asked, leaning against the kitchen counter so he could watch her properly.
“Yeah,” she said, her head still stuck inside the fridge. “What can I get you?” she asked, pulling out some veggies from the fridge.
He glanced at the clock, it was almost one a.m. She was going to cook now? “I’m good,” he told her.
She glanced at him but wouldn’t meet his eyes, “You’ve had nothing to eat since breakfast.” She went back to the fridge and brought out some eggs. “I’m making an omelet and I won’t take no for an answer.”
She headed for the island and began to prepare the meal. The vegetables were already chopped up and all she needed to do was chop the onions. When she was done, she walked back to the fridge and brought out a mango and a quarter slice of watermelon.
He placed his coffee mug on the counter behind him and moved closer to where she was standing.
“What can I do to help?” he asked.
She picked up a chopping board and a knife and placed them in front of him. Next she picked up the dish that had the fruits and placed them next to the board.
“I’m making a smoothie so chop these up.”
Before he could reply, she’d moved on and was breaking the eggs into a clear dish. He wondered what was up with her. She seemed lost in thought, almost as though something was bothering her. He could feel her pulling away from him, like she was withdrawing into a place far away, where he couldn’t follow, and it bothered him.
He quickly peeled the mango and cut it up into cubes. The watermelon soon followed suit. He took the board and knife to the sink and rinsed them out before putting them away.
“Sure you’re okay?” he felt compelled to ask again.
This time she nodded. He watched as she turned on the stove and placed a skillet on it. Next she put a few drops of olive oil into the pan and tilted it so that the oil coated the entire pan. Her movement was deft and efficient. Before long, the aroma of eggs and cheese filled the kitchen and his stomach rumbled.
“Where do you keep your dishes?” he asked, and when she pointed to a kitchen cabinet, he set to work. He placed the dishes on the small kitchen table.
“Thanks.” She turned off the stove and bent to open the oven door. A rich, pleasant aroma suddenly filled the kitchen and it took him several years back to his grandma’s kitchen.
“Is that homemade bread?” he asked incredulously.
She looked up and a few strands of her hair had come loose. She pushed them away impatiently and nodded with a slight smile. “I made some banana bread a couple of days ago. I just warmed it up in the oven.”
She turned back to the oven and brought out the pan. He felt his mouth begin to water. He could not wait to see if everything was as delicious as it smelled.
If he continued to feast in this way, he would need to hit the gym on a daily basis.
Chapter Eleven
Ace put a forkful of the omelet in his mouth and sighed in pleasure as several flavors burst upon his tongue. Who knew an omelet could taste so delicious?
“This is really good,” he told her.
“Thanks.”
“You didn’t get any for yourself,” he noticed.
She took a sip from her smoothie cup and shrugged. “Actually, I wasn’t hungry.”
She’d done all that just so he would eat. He chewed slowly as he observed her. He was beginning to understand Miss Newman pretty well. She liked to look after people and she was looking after him now. And it felt damn good.
He took a forkful of eggs and stretched it out to her. “Open up.”
“No, seriously.”
He held out the fork. He was not going to budge on this. If she would take the trouble to make sure he ate something, he would do the same for her also.
After a few moments, she opened her mouth.
“How did you learn to cook?” he asked.
She smiled wistfully, “After mom died, it was sink or swim. Dad was hopeless in the kitchen and Ricky was not much better so…” she trailed off with a shrug.
Ace fed her another bit of eggs as he thought about what she’d just revealed. “So you took care of cooking?”
“Everything. Cooking, washing, cleaning this house,” she laughed. “After our electricity got cut for the second time, I took over paying the bills too. Dad was just totally clueless,” she said with a smile.
“Didn’t you resent that?”
She looked at him in surprise. “No! I mean, wow.” She shook her head as she tried to search for the right words. “When Mom died, we were all devastated, but Dad and my brother couldn’t function. It really hit them hard. Taking care of them, loving those she’d also loved, well, it made me feel close to Mom.”
He got it. She was a nurturer. And here she was without anyone to nurture.
“Why are you not married?” he felt the need to ask.
She sighed then and got up. She pointed to his plate and that’s when he realized that it was empty. When he nodded, she picked
it up and walked to the sink.
“Are you going to answer my question?”
“I was engaged.”
Ace felt like he’d just been punched in the gut. Okay, this was getting crazy, his reaction to that news was totally over the top. A beautiful woman like Sierra, it was only natural that she would have fallen in love at some point. There was no reason to feel strange about it.
He picked up the empty glasses and took them to where she was standing by the sink.
“What happened?”
She turned on the tap and began to wash the glasses. She seemed lost in thought and they didn’t appear to be happy ones.
She rinsed a cup beneath the flowing water and when she was done, he took it from her. She looked at him in surprise as he snagged the dish towel from where it was hanging and began to wipe the cup.
“I loved him too much.” She had gone back to washing the other cup.
“How is that a problem?”
“Right?” She glanced at him with a smile as she handed the second cup to him. “Apparently, my love was slowly killing Ray, so he left the night before my dad’s funeral.”
“The bastard.”
“Yeah.”
He heard the pain in that single word and he wanted to put his arms around her and comfort her. She had lost so many people in her life and he knew exactly how that felt. But while it had made him put up walls around his heart so that no one could hurt him like that again, he had a feeling the opposite had been the case with Sierra.
“Love sucks.”
She turned to him in surprise. “No…how can you say that?” She wiped her hands on a towel and walked to the living room.
“Pretty obvious to me.”
Sierra settled on the sofa. She had a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach. Sure, he did not believe in love. That was not really her business. Still, she tried to explain to him why she did, despite everything.
“Losing someone you love hurts like hell. I hate what Ray did to me, but I can’t regret loving him.”
“Not even after he left when you needed him the most?”
She leaned back on the sofa and tucked her feet beneath her while she thought seriously about his question. When Ray left she’d been devastated. She had so much love to give and he had taken it and thrown it in her face. But she’d had enough time to think long and hard about it, and she’d come to the conclusion that the problem was his and not hers. Love made the world a better place.
She looked at Ace and tried to communicate what she felt.
“When my mom died, I went numb. I couldn’t feel anything. I wanted to cry desperately, but I couldn’t. I hated that.”
She looked at him and could see that he was trying hard to understand what she was saying.
“What changed?” He sat down beside her on the sofa.
“Ricky. After he died I realized how much I had lost. I should have loved him when I had the chance to do so.” She felt the loss each day.
Ricky had tried to reach out to her, but she’d been frozen and by the time she’d begun to thaw, it was too late. He had already joined the navy and even though he came home a few times afterwards, things had already changed.
It was the greatest regret she had.
She stretched and stifled a yawn. A quick glance at the clock on the mantelpiece showed that it was almost three a.m. Luckily, there was no work the next day. She couldn’t imagine that only a week had passed since she met Ace.
“Sierra, I hear you.” Ace had his head on the chair and his eyes were closed. “Too frozen.”
“What?”
“I’m too frozen. Won’t ever thaw.”
Her heart ached for the hurt and pain he was still carrying around. When her mother had died, she’d felt exactly that way, and she knew it was a hard burden to carry around. She wished that she could help him somehow.
“Well, I hope when you meet that special someone, you will let yourself thaw enough to love her.” The yawn caught her by surprise and she gave in to it. “Need to hit the sack,” she said with a sigh as she got up.
Ace stood up and surprised her by wrapping his arms around her.
“Thanks for dinner,” he said.
She hugged him back and let herself enjoy the warm and comforting feeling of his arms. Then she stepped back. When he dropped his arms, she felt an aching sense of loss that she could not explain.
“See you in the morning.”
Chapter Twelve
Ace watched her leave and sat back on the sofa. This assignment was beginning to take too much from him. Sierra was making him think about stuff he did not want to think about. He remembered his grandma and how much she’d loved him. It hadn’t been easy accepting two kids into her home at her age, yet she’d done so with grace and showered them both with so much love.
He stood up and looked around. He needed some air, so he stepped out and walked around the house, checking the perimeter to be sure that the security measures they’d taken where still in place. Nothing seemed out of order, but just to be sure he called Rusty.
“Man, you know what time it is?”
“Why, you busy?”
“Sleeping, dickhead!”
“Yeah well, need to be sure everything is working fine.” He walked around the house once more, tense and on high alert for any sign of danger.
“Just a minute…. Everything’s great. I’ve rigged it so I’ll know if anything is off.”
“Great.”
“You okay?” Rusty asked after a brief pause.
“Yeah, just wired.”
“How’s Sierra?”
“She seems fine.” He found that strange.
“They mean to eliminate her,” Rusty said. “Can you convince her to stop digging?”
“Might be too late for that.”
“Yeah, thought so too.”
They were both silent as they thought about the situation. It was going to get harder to keep her safe, he knew that. But they were up to the task.
“The other girl went down.”
Ace paused mid-step. He didn’t want to ask, but he needed to know.
“The hostess, Victoria?”
“Yeah that one. One of the bullets hit her.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, sucks… Gotta go, man.”
“Okay.”
Ace walked back to the house slowly. He wondered how Sierra would take this news. She seemed to like Victoria a lot. The woman had lost so many people in her life already, this wasn’t going to be easy for her. He would have to let her know and he was not looking forward to that.
**
Sierra came awake slowly. She drew the pillow over her head to shield her face from the sunlight that was streaming in through her window. Her head felt heavy, the result of inadequate sleep. She stretched and burrowed further under the bed covers.
She turned a few times, trying to find a comfortable spot. She needed some more sleep. No luck. With a sigh, she gave up.
Sitting up, she covered her mouth and gave in to a full blown yawn. She reached for the bottle of water she always kept by her bedside and took a long drink. She needed some fresh juice or a smoothie before she could fully come awake, but that would mean she had to go to the kitchen and she was not ready to face Ace just yet.
She fell back on the bed. The thought of seeing Ace made Sierra’s heart skip a beat. That was not good. Staring at the ceiling, she thought of the way he looked at her like she was all he could think about.
And the way his eyes darkened to a midnight blue when she told him about her rat of a former fiancé…he had looked like he wanted to destroy something. And when he’d hugged her…she had not wanted it to end.
But she also remembered the look on his face just before she left the living room last night…Too frozen…won’t ever thaw. And that was the deal breaker. She could not do that to herself. She could not afford to have feelings for someone who did not feel the same way about her, who was not willing to open himself up to
feel. She knew that she could not afford to have feelings for Ace Moreno.
She stood up from her bed and marched to the bathroom. She picked up her toothbrush and paste and neatly pressed the paste from the bottom, unto her brush. Sierra brushed her teeth then washed her face.
After she was done, she stopped and glanced at the mirror. She noted the dark circles under her eyes and lifted a finger to trace them. She was not getting enough sleep and it was mostly due to the testosterone-filled man that had moved into the room next to hers. It was enough to keep any red-blooded woman up at night.
She scanned what she was wearing. Lounge pants and the tank top she had worn the night before. She pulled on a light sweater and straightened her bed before walking out. She was about to face the first day of her No Falling for Ace campaign.
She paused as she walked past his door, wondering if he was inside. She sighed, rolled her shoulders and braced herself. She could do this. Even though she did have feelings for Ace, it was not too late to pull back. Her life would not always be crazy, and once the craziness was over, life would go back to normal and Ace was not going to be a part of it. She nodded and kept walking.
She found him in the kitchen, wearing her apron no less.
“What’s going on?” she asked, standing just inside the doorway.
“Breakfast.” He flashed her a smile and went back to whatever he was doing by the stove.
“Smells yummy.” She walked to the fridge and reached for a carton of mixed citrus juice and shut the fridge.
“You don’t drink coffee.” It was a statement, not a question.
Sierra poured some juice into a glass and drank from it. “I quit.”
“Must have been recent.” He set a stack of pancakes on the table and reached for the dishes.
“Six months.” She opened the fridge again and brought out the maple syrup.
“Impressive,” he said, shooting her an admiring glance as he took off the apron.
“Not really. I was losing control of my life and that was my way of taking back some control.”
“Ray the Prick.”
There was no smile on his face now and the fierce look gave Sierra a warm feeling. No falling for Ace, she felt the need to remind herself.
Silver Shield Security Box Set Page 6
