Acquiring Trouble (12 page)

"I
think I can take it from here," he
said with his blush deepening.

"
Are you sure, sugar?" Miss Daisy asked as
she scooted her chair back.

"I'm sure, thank you."

Morgan bit her lip to stop from laughing as Miles finished wiping the frosting from his lap. She watched as Miss Daisy smiled and gave him a wink befo
re heading back to the kitchen.

"You know, I think you did that on purpose," Miles teased. "And t
o make up for your bad behavior
you need to
go out on a date with me. Morgan, will you be my Valentine?
"

Morgan stopped laughing and moved her eyes from his lap to his face. "Are you serious?"

"Of course I am."

"
You’ve
hated me for years and now you want to go out with me?
And not just on any old day, but on Valentine
’
s
Day
?
That's not reasonable and if you're one thing, it's reas
onable," she said suspiciously.

"Morgan, I've never forgotten that kiss and I fully intend to explore those feelings more. I'm very serious about taking you out on a d
ate
and I can’t think of anyone
I’d
rather spend Valentine’s
Day
with
.
It’ll be fun to put business aside for a night and just focus on us.
I'll pick you up at seven." Miles'
s
eyes turned brow
n and his voice turned sensual.

"Okay. I'll see you then," she smiled
as she pushed back her worries
.
He was offering her the one thing she never thought she had and she couldn’t resist grabbing the carrot he was dangling
.
Could her dreams be coming true after all this time?

Miles stood up and wiped some more crumbs from his pants. He gave Morgan a kill
er smile and walked out of the c
afé. Pierce had given him the idea to turn the tables on Morgan and use his sex appeal against her for a change. It had started off
t
hat way, but it h
ad certainly ended differently.

There was no denying he was attracted to her, but he found that it was more than that. He had fun with her. He enjoyed the challenge that she presented, but was amazed by the comfortable feel that enveloped
him when they started talking. Sometime during their talk
at the cafe
, his date
idea
had turned from a business tactic to something he was really looking forward to.
He had avoide
d Valentine’s Day since college. H
owever, he found himself looking forward to it this year.
God, he just hoped his mom didn’t find out about this or she’d be booking the church.
But,
the real question
was
if Morgan
was
just playing him
.

Miles
unlocked the gate and drove toward his hou
se. The geese honked their welcome and Bill howled his hello. He turned off his alarm
and turned to Bill. The old dog sat down and thumped his tail. His s
hort, stumpy legs caused
his belly to get support from the floor.

"Hey, bud" Miles smiled again as Bill sat up, his front feet dan
cing in the air as he balanced.

Miles tossed him a treat and headed to the living room. He shrugged his wide shoulders out of his suit coat and tossed it on the back of the chair.
He
poured himself a drink and sat by the large bank of windows as he thought about Morgan.
It was just like all those years ago. She was intoxicating. Once he touched her he couldn't get her out of his mind.

Miles drifted off to sleep in his chair with Morgan on his mind. But like most nights, the pleasant dreams were chased away by his darker ones.
With no control over his mind it took him
to
the place he hated most.
Back to those mountains.

Afghanistan,
s
ix
y
ears ago…

Cade was unconscious after being
nearly beaten
to death. Miles knew he didn't have long before reinforcements showed up. They were
supposed to hike into all
y territory with their rescue and be picked up in two days' time. He ran to his brother and had to look beyond the swelling and bleeding to
find the depth of his injuries.

Cade's nose was broken, most likely one or both of his eye sockets were broken, and he had a huge knot on the side of his head. Miles went to pick up his brother when he finally felt the fire sho
o
t through his body.
He felt the pain of the bullet wounds as he trie
d to drag Cade to the
now
empty
,
sporty black Subaru off-road sedan
. He stopped and raised his weapon when
he heard a noise. He listened
closely as he approached the carava
n. It was a banging noise and
h
e could hear
muffled screaming.

Miles opened the front door to the car and made sure it was empty. He grabbed the keys from the
ignition
and
dragged Cade into the back seat of the car. With his gun in hand
,
he walked back around to the trunk. He inserted the key and turned it. The trunk popped open and a young blonde woman with wild eyes stared ba
ck at him.

*
    
*
    
*

Miles'
s
eyes opened as Bill's barking woke him from his nightly purgatory. He thumped his tail and waited for Miles to walk him outside.
He
looked at his cell phone as he stood out under the stars and waited for Bill. He had fallen asleep at ten o'clock. It was now two in the morning. Four hours was a lot for him. It was so much in fact that he was now
wide
awake
.

He changed his clothe
s and
walked downstairs into the basement gym to work out his frustrations and develop a plan of action. He had a company
to defeat and a woman to date.

Miles pulled up to the hotel in Lexington and took a deep breath. He'd been on lots of dates, but this one felt different.
He made his way through the lobby and knocked on the door. He lost
his breath when Morgan opened the door
wearing
a
skintight
black dress.

"You look beautiful," he said as his eyes soaked in every curve of her body. Her luscious breasts, her small waist, her rounded hips leading to some very sexy legs. Images of his hands all over her flooded his head.
He remembered that he was holding a flower and extended the single red rose to her. 

"Thank you. Where are we going?"
Morgan asked somewhat shy
ly as she sniffed the rose
.

"
I thought we'd go out to dinner at
a
lovely place I know not to
o
far from here."

Miles held out his arm and felt so proud when she placed her small hand on it. He escorted her out of the hotel and walked the short distance downtown to
a
restaurant located in one of the historic buildings.

He laughed as she told stories of her time on Capitol Hill and she laughed when he told her
about
the pranks his siblings liked to play on each other.

She couldn’t believe the time he had managed to talk Red into letting Cade go for a prank gone wrong.
Miles had told Red,
“If you want to arrest my brother for running down Main Street in nothing but what God gave him
,
then wouldn’t you be saying what God created wasn’t good enough? Furthermore, I think Edna will shoot you if you keep blocking her view. Shouldn’t his punishment simply be to finish the run home w
ith every woman in town
watching?
Red had buckled as the crowd grew and Cade finished
the run
in the buff with scores of people following in their cars cheering him on. Miles had failed to tell Red the reason Cade was naked and running down the street
:
he
was chasing Miles and Marshall for sneaking to the pond and stealing his clothes while he
skinny-dipped
with
a girl from
college
. It
was
the last prank they had played before they had been deployed.

Dinner was over b
efore
they
knew it. He felt special to have seen this side of Morgan… the real side.
The
side
that donated time to charity and would stop traffic in front of the White House to chase down a dog w
a
ndering in the street. He
had
laughed as she told how she had slammed on her br
ake
s, jumped out of the car
,
and held up her hands
to stop traffic
. The Secret Service came to investigate
the disturbance. S
oon enough
,
she had all of them running about trying to catch the
sm
u
sh
-
nosed pug.

It
troubled Miles
to
see Morgan’s
warm, caring
side
and know that
he might have been misjudg
ed
her all these years.
He stopped at her hotel door and
waited for her to find her key.

"Thank you, Miles. I had a wonderful time," Morgan said as she pulled her key out of her purse.

"I did too.
Best Valentine’s Day yet.
Do you think we can take a break away from business next Friday and do this again?"

"Is this Friday too soon?" she teased.

"I wish, but
I’m
being dragged to a tux fitting for Marshall's
wedding. It's
less than
a
month away
and
M
om gave us a bunch of
things to do over the weekend.
As she says, ‘March is only
a blink away
.’
S
he’s on a mission to get everything done early so we’re not rushing the week before.
"

"Sounds n
ice actually. Good night
,
Miles
,
and thank you for such a wonderful night.
"

Miles stepped closer to her, his body alert with desire. He gently placed his finger under her chin and drew
her close to him. Slowly, softly
, he bent down
and brushed his lips against
hers.
Miles had
never felt such intimacy in one kiss before. It shook him to his core. He pulled a
way before he lost all control.

"Good night, Morgan."

Miles was lying on his bench press
,
lifting weights
,
when he heard his phone ring. He glanced up at
the
TV
’s cable box
to see that it was only six in the morning. It was never good news
when the phone rang th
at
early.

"Davies."

"Miles. Tabby." Miles grinned at
O
ld
M
an Tabe
rnacle's
to
-
the
-
point
greeting. "I got a problem."

"Have you been arrested again?" Tabby was notorious for trying to write his name in the snow, but w
as rarely arrested when
the temperatures were above freezing
.

"No, it's my pigs. They're sick."

"Have you called Katelyn?"

"She just left. She thinks
it's
poison, but has no proof of it
. All my older pigs died, but she thinks the younger ones will make it
.
She's going to run some tests and ship out some samples." Miles thought he heard a trace of emotion in
O
ld
M
an Tabby's
voice.