by Regan Black
“I can—”
He cut her off. “You may be an expert, but I want to hear it from them.” The paramedics rattled off the signs of shock, warned him about concussions and let her refuse transport with a signature.
He slipped an arm around her waist and guided her to his car. “For the record, I’ve always wanted to ride in an ambulance. You crushed my dream.”
“That’s a lie,” she said, trying not to laugh. “Kevin told me you hate everything about medicine and hospitals.”
“Maybe I’m getting over it.” He helped her into the passenger seat. “A certain stubborn, beautiful nurse is giving me a fresh perspective.”
He closed the passenger door before she could respond. As he rounded the car to the driver’s side, his phone clanged with an incoming call from an unknown number. “Hello?”
“Sayer? Hank. Where’s Grace Ann?”
Oddly enough, the cool, official voice put Derek right back on high alert. “She’s here sitting in my car.”
“Can you put her on the line?”
“Sure, just a second.” Derek slid behind the wheel and handed Grace Ann the phone. “Hank. For you,” he explained.
“Hey!” she greeted her brother too brightly.
Derek wished he’d had the forethought to put the call on speaker, as he only heard her side of the conversation. Each of her replies was upbeat and brief, and Derek was pulling into her driveway when she handed the phone back to him.
“He wants to talk with you.”
Derek stopped her when she tried to get out of the car. “Wait for me.”
She wrinkled her nose, though she didn’t try to rush off without him. He counted that as progress.
“It’s Derek,” he said into the phone.
“I know this is a lot to ask, considering your brother’s situation,” Hank began. “Can you do me a favor and stay with Gracie until I get a handle on this?”
It wouldn’t be a hardship on his end at all. “I feel compelled to point out I’m not a certified bodyguard.”
On an impatient huff, Grace Ann pushed open her door. “Stop conspiring to babysit me.”
Derek scrambled after her.
“She’s impossible,” Hank grumbled in his ear. “I don’t want her left alone. The situation is escalating and I can’t get over there myself until day after tomorrow at the earliest. I’m not inclined to trust anyone right now. You’re on-site.”
Derek locked the front door and waited until he heard her bedroom door slam. “I’ll stay,” he said. “Does this have anything to do with why she wasn’t on that training exercise?”
“Is that a conflict of interest for you?” Hank asked.
“Yes. No.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair. “I’m staying,” he confirmed. “But I’d sure like to know what the hell is going on.”
“Yeah.” Hank sounded exhausted. “I’ll send you an email tonight with everything I can share. If she remembers anything about that driver, call me immediately.”
* * *
A shower and twenty minutes with an ice bag on her sore hip did Grace Ann a world of good. At least this time around she had a good reason for leaning on him. She couldn’t drum up much irritation with Hank. If she had to have a babysitter, she’d rather have someone she could talk to, someone who put her at ease and distracted her from wondering who had been driving that car.
Ignoring Derek’s protests, she insisted on helping him replace the garage window. It served to both reassure him and keep her from getting stiff. Plus, the pleasant diversion of watching his muscles ripple under the T-shirt as he worked couldn’t be overlooked.
“How did you learn to do all of this?” she asked when they finished.
“Construction paid well,” he said. “Better than other jobs, and the hours matched up with Kevin’s school schedule.”
She couldn’t imagine the pain he’d endured. Naturally, Derek would have factored in school hours as he attempted to step into the role of provider and parent for his grieving little brother. She wondered when and how he’d processed the loss of his parents, or if he’d just buried it under a general loathing for hospitals.
Looking back, his disgust for her profession had been part of what made him her ideal guy. Sure, the man had sex appeal for days, with a body honed by his love of the outdoors. Being intelligent and interesting only added to the total package. At the start, it was his inaccessibility that worked for her. He had no interest in dropping in or making demands on her time, so she didn’t have to think about shifting her life around for a bigger emotional commitment, either.
When they finished with the window, he went to clean up and she headed for the kitchen. They could both use something hearty for lunch. She gathered up bread, cheese and deli meat and dug a quart of homemade vegetable soup from the back of the freezer.
The man deserved more than this for all he was doing, but it was the best thank-you she could offer right now. Dropping the icy block of soup into a pan to heat, she prepped the sandwiches for the griddle. She reached for her phone to turn on some music and remembered it was trashed. Her hip was already achy and she wasn’t half done with lunch.
Resentment flared that her morning feel-good plan had been wrecked. Had it been a distracted driver or the Riley Hunter? Not her job to track that person down, Hank’s. Better to keep her mind on lunch, a task she could manage. With the busted front end, surely it wouldn’t take the police long to find the culprit. When they did, she was pressing all the charges possible. Maybe Derek would have some suggestions on that front.
“That smells amazing.”
Derek’s voice startled her and she banged her hip on the counter. She hissed through her teeth when a bolt of pain shot straight down her leg to the sole of her foot.
“Sorry!” He gathered her close, massaging the sore spot with gentle pressure and slow circles. “Better?”
“Getting there,” she said, breathing through the spike of pain. “Thanks,” she added, easing out of his embrace. If he kept touching her, she’d only make a fool of herself.
“Let me take over,” he suggested. “You should take another turn with the ice.”
“I’ve got it.” At his frown, she explained. “Resting only makes me stiffen up. I promise I’ll ask if I need you to take over.”
“All right.” He moved out of the way and folded his arms, the pose emphasizing the swell of his biceps.
The man kept showing up, doing thoughtful things and throwing her off-balance. She’d gladly accept if he offered her a sexual outlet, but she didn’t know what to make of his increasing curiosity about the rest of her life.
When the sandwiches came off the grill, he helped her get everything to the table. “This is fantastic,” he said after tasting the soup.
“Family recipe.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “I thought you didn’t cook?”
“It’s soup. You throw stuff in a pot and hope for the best.”
His low chuckle was a wonderful distraction. “It hits the spot. Thanks.”
His praise left her uncomfortable, when he was the one doing all the heavy lifting. And her troubles had once more interfered with the real reason he was here. “Have you talked with Kevin today?”
“We’ve exchanged a few texts. Before I picked up the window,” he said. “Sounds like he’s had a good day.” He pulled out his phone and showed her the unhappy face emoji. “He’s pouting that I haven’t brought one of your brownies as promised.”
Frustration turned her stomach into knots. Derek should be with Kevin. Her nose stung with the tears she refused to let fall. Oh, she was tired of feeling sorry for herself. Kevin was facing the long recovery and Derek was stuck here, doing Hank a favor.
“Hey.” He reached over and covered her hand. “Talk to me.”
Again, she extricated herself from the comforting contac
t. “You really don’t have to stay. I know you told Hank you would. This is me releasing you from that commitment. I shouldn’t be your priority.”
“What will you do if I go?”
“I’ll, um...” She hadn’t thought about it. “I’ll take myself and the protective detail on a vacation.” She’d always wanted to spend some time in Australia. A little extreme, but a valid option. “Getting jumped by a possessed car was a random thing.”
The joke clearly missed its mark as Derek narrowed his eyes. “Like the random broken window and random attack in the stairwell?”
“Yes.” When he put it that way, it sounded worse. He’d become invested, exactly the kind of relationship factor she actively avoided. She didn’t want to worry about her choices affecting someone else. Her father’s choices affected the entire family, good and bad, even though the consequences weren’t intentional. “It’s not like three random events add up to a premeditated plan.”
His eyebrows snapped together as he gave his soup his full attention. “Hank said he’d send me an email tonight. I’d rather hear it from you.”
“Hear what, exactly?”
“Grace Ann.” He stared at her, his expression stern.
Playing ostrich insulted both of them. The recent incidents were almost certainly orchestrated by the Riley Hunter and Derek could well be unknowingly putting his life at risk by sticking close. He’d said it himself; he wasn’t a bodyguard.
No, he was a man she could build a life with. She was on the verge of loving him, even knowing he deserved more than she could give. Derek deserved a woman eager to welcome him home every day after work. A woman who would have dinner ready and be available for a spontaneous weekend of rock climbing or an evening walk down a street lined with picket fences. He deserved a woman who’d give him a new family to treasure, a woman who wasn’t broken and jaded.
For the first time in months, she considered making another attempt at counseling, so she might eventually heal herself—and also be the right woman for Derek.
“Grace Ann?”
“It’s an ugly story.” She pulled herself together. “No matter who tells you all the details, you should probably move to Kevin’s place. It’s where you should’ve stayed from the start. You were kind to keep me company, but despite the evidence to the contrary, I can take care of myself.”
“I disagree.” He waved off her immediate protest. “Of course you can take care of yourself. That doesn’t mean you should handle everything alone. We were both twisted up after Kevin’s surgery. It was nice to spend that time with a friend. With you.”
She was a pretty messed-up friend right now.
“I’ll go stay at Kevin’s place,” he said. “If you’ll come with me.”
“That’s silly and intrusive. You and your brother need this time.”
“We’ve had plenty of time. I think he’d consider it a favor if you distracted me. He tells me I hover.” He shrugged. “I won’t leave you alone to deal with whatever is really going here.”
She searched for the words to explain she was trying to do the right thing for him. “I’m not alone.” She waved toward the window and the protective detail outside. “Hank has me covered. I’ll go see my parents.” Probably smarter than going all the way to Australia. “The surfing will definitely help the hip.” Or walking on the shifting sand would make it worse. Only one way to find out. No one could strangle her or hit her with a car or pester her about taking precautions if she was out on the ocean. And if Derek wasn’t close by, he couldn’t get caught in the cross fire.
She started clearing the table so she could lie down again with an ice pack before they went to the hospital.
“What are you hiding?” He nudged her aside to handle the dishes himself. “Is there any reason you don’t want to tell me what’s going on?” he asked, blocking her escape from the kitchen.
“Talking about it makes it all sound so creepy and weird.” She gripped the edge of the counter. “If Matt survived, I can, too.” She didn’t like giving the madman behind the harassment that much power or credit. “That’s all that really matters.”
Her emotions took another nosedive. On the verge of a tantrum, she opened the dishwasher to help him load it. Bending over, her hip locked up and she swallowed a string of curses at the blaze of pain.
Derek drew her back against his lean, warm body and kissed the side of her neck. “Breathe. Just breathe.”
It wasn’t easy with her heart doing pirouettes and her nerves bouncing between lust and pain.
“In and out,” he crooned. “That’s it.” He held her closer, taking some of her weight off the battered joint. “Better?”
“Mmm.” Words were beyond her now. She’d known he had good hands, though this specific brand of tenderness was new.
“What did your brother survive?”
“It’s such a convoluted story.” She gingerly boosted herself up on the counter and he returned to the dishes. It made it easier for her, talking to his back as she organized her thoughts. “Did Kevin ever mention the data breach a few months ago, when the personnel records were compromised?”
“Sure. I got an official letter myself,” he said. “How does that tie in?”
“Well, some creep used sensitive information to start harassing Matt. Apparently way back when he was at West Point, Matt got another cadet pregnant and didn’t tell any of us. The mother of his son received weird messages that amounted to ‘you will pay.’ The sender didn’t want money. Based on the stalker-like pictures and video he sent to our dad, the investigators think he’s trying to make Dad suffer for some wrongdoing by hurting us. Matt survived and the attacks stopped, though everyone stayed on alert since the culprit wasn’t caught.”
“That’s seriously twisted.”
“An understatement.” She accepted the ice pack he handed her. “The creep has reach, I’ll give him that. When my car was tagged in the garage with the ‘you will pay’ note, Hank took that as the opening volley, but the jerk was just playing us. Hank calls him the Riley Hunter, which only aggravates me more.”
“Why?”
“He doesn’t deserve a title.” She couldn’t hide her contempt. “And I’m not planning on being anyone’s trophy.”
“Good.” He tossed the towel over his shoulder and leaned back on the opposite counter, watching her. “So I guess it’s your turn?”
She hated admitting it. “That is the prevailing theory. Dad got pictures of me hugging you and the broken garage window. I’m not sure if my suspension is part of his plan. I guess it’s possible.”
“Your dad knew about that, too?”
She nodded. “He sent Hank in here like a one-man cavalry.”
Derek’s brow furrowed thoughtfully. “What about the car that hit you today?”
She dropped her gaze to her bare feet. “I don’t know. Hank reacted damn quick. Then again, his team was here and he’s overprotective.”
“I’m not sure overprotective applies in this situation.”
“I really think if all of this crap was due to this creep, he’d have sent me another of his infamous messages by now.”
“You don’t think it’s possible he changed tactics when he changed targets?”
“Well, no one tried to strangle Matt,” she allowed. “It’s possible that my suspension is somehow because of him. If this new approach is because I’m female he’s in for a rude awakening. Investigators found out he hired local thugs and rigged things so he could watch Matt’s reaction. He used fake email accounts and burner phones.”
“He sounds dangerous,” Derek said, draping the towel on the hook.
“Which is why I’d like you to let Hank and his guys handle it,” she said. “Please.”
He was already shaking his head. “No way. I find myself agreeing with Hank. You need round-the-clock protection until someone drops a net
on this guy.”
“I have it.”
“Not inside the house.”
This was Derek digging in. She closed her eyes and counted to ten, struggling to find her last scrap of patience. “I do not need another brother,” she said.
He moved closer, parting her knees gently to make room for his trim hips. His strong hands covered her knees and cruised slowly along the length of her thighs. “Grace Ann, I promise you I’ve never thought of you like a sister.”
Sitting on the countertop, her face level with his, it wouldn’t take much more than a thought to lay a kiss on him guaranteed to end this conversation. “Derek.” She traced his face with her fingertips. His straight eyebrows, the subtle jig at the bridge of his nose. He’d never told her how or when it had been broken. The slant of his mouth, the hard line of his jaw, were softened with a gleam of sandy stubble. He was made up of so many angles and textures. Though she’d explored them all before, it was new having him here.
“Do it,” he urged, gently stroking her thighs. “You know you want to kiss me.”
She studied the thick waves of his hair, the shape of his ears. What was so different about him in this moment? She laid her lips on his. Softly, slowly, reveling in the fresh sensations, though her heart kicked into high gear. She tasted his lower lip, nibbled lightly, searching for the balance between the familiar and the new.
His hands slipped under her shirt as his tongue stroked over hers. The heat in his lightly calloused palms surrounded her, invaded her. She arched into the sensation as he teased the hard peaks of her breasts, wrapping her legs around his lean hips.
The kiss spun her out onto a cloud where nothing hurt and no trouble could find her. Craving him was the only risk; the only threat was not following through. She sighed his name, her head falling back as he rained featherlight kisses down the column of her throat and back up again, taking her mouth when she gasped.
She dragged his shirt up and over his head, glorying in the view of his sculpted chest and shoulders. Need pulsed through her, building with every caress of his lips, each rasp of his whiskers against her skin. He was the only thought in her mind. She cupped his erection through his jeans, silently pleading for more. Here and now.
