Eyes Of Danger (11 page)

I didn’t want to look at Tim, but I
did
look at what he was working on. He had stripped down a gun that he was cleaning. I stopped with the spoon frozen half way to my mouth. Just in case I forgot what had happened in the alley, I now had a reminder sitting right in front of me. My headache got worse, so I looked back down at the soup deciding the spoonful was cold. I started over doing a good job of eating about half of it along with a chunk of bread covered with, butter. I drank the coffee, holding it in both hands.

I had managed this without saying a word, even without meeting those amazing black eyes. By this time the gun was assembled. He stood up and went out the back door with the weapon.

With Tim gone, I wanted to talk to Charley, see if he would answer questions that Tim would not. “Charley, about last night.” I looked up at the older man doing dishes.

“Don’t think about it, sweetheart. Anyone would pass out going through what you did. Timothy carried you up and tucked you in. Sleep was what you needed. He told me about the guys from F. J. Franklin. They don’t hire guys with scruples.”

I sat there thinking through everything he had just said. Without being aware, he had just told me a lot. It was Tim who had stripped me and put me in the tee shirt. I felt a flush build up behind the bruising on my face. I was disturbed with that knowledge, but not sure why.

Also, both Charley and Tim felt the guys who had attacked me were bad. I had to agree that I also thought they were not very nice. I wasn’t sure what would have happened if Tim hadn’t shot the guy who was pulling his gun up on me. I knew I had made that man mad. He had been aggravated when his buddies laughed.

“Is this your home?” I looked over at Charley to see how he reacted to my question. Even with my aching head, I tried my lie detector.

He turned around to face me and smiled. “Nope, I just take care of it. I try to take care of anyone who stops by.” He leaned back against the counter to pick up a cup.

A safe house. How many were involved and what were they involved with? “How long do people stay here?”

“Well…” He finished his coffee turning to wash the cup. “Some stay for days and some stay for months. Whatever is needed.”

“Tim has been here before?” I watched the movement of Charley’s shoulders. I knew I was pushing my luck. Charley turned back to look at me. “He has brought people here before, and yes, once he had to stay while he healed. How much do you know about what he does?”

At last, could I get the truth? “I know nothing.”

Now, I read the hesitation in Charley. He was not going to lie, he just wasn’t going to tell me everything I wanted to know. “Oh, that makes it interesting.”

I stood up. “Where are my shoes?”

Charley pointed towards the back door. I went that way and looked in the side room that served as a coatroom. There were coats on hooks with boots and shoes on racks on the floor. I saw my tennis shoes were among the variety of footwear. I sat down on the floor and pulled on my socks, then the shoes. My hair had dried by this time and it fell forward around my face as I pulled up my knees to finish the ties. I heard the door open and looked up to see Tim staring down at me.

“How do you feel?” The deep warm voice with the cold air from outside was a strange mixture for me as Tim spoke.

I felt the warm feeling, but took a breath telling myself to suck it up. “Just about how I look.” I shrugged my shoulder. “I found sore muscles where I didn’t know I have muscles.” I put my hands flat on the floor to push up, but he reached down to pull me up. I wasn’t happy about the close contact with him. I stepped back looking up at him. I could see him returning my look with a question. But he didn’t ask, he turned and walked away.

I now had my shoes on. I saw Tim and Charley talking. I walked into the kitchen slowly as they turned together to look at me.

“I can get a clean car, but it will take a couple of hours,” Charley said to Tim, but looked at me.

“Make it four,” Tim answered low in his throat. He then went into the living room.

Charley looked at me for another moment, smiling before he went by me to get a coat from one of the hooks. I heard him go out the back door. I just stood with my hands hooked in my back jeans pockets. I heard a car start up, then fade away as it went down the driveway. I stood still in the kitchen until my curiosity got too much. I slowly walked through the doorway. No one was within sight. I was starting to get my alarm signal. What was going on here? I went up the stairs and looked in the empty bathroom. I then went on to the room I had woken up in.

The door of the bedroom was half way shut, so I pushed it open. Tim was standing at the window with his back to the room. I had not made the bed so I went on in and began to straighten up the covers. Come on, this had to have been one of the weakest excuses to get in a bedroom with a hot guy that I had ever come up with.

“We need to talk.”

He didn’t turn around, just looked through the lace at the treetops outside. But the voice did it all for me.

I stopped fussing with the covers and turned around. With weak knees, I sat down on the side of the bed. This wasn’t what I had expected. My alarm was going off, but I didn’t see any weapons on him. Of course, I remembered him taking out a couple of guys without any weapons. Still, my alarm felt different. I felt like I was reading everything wrong.

“As an eighteen year old wild kid, I got in some trouble.”

His voice was low as if he was talking more to himself than to me.

“It wasn’t very serious, but my dad was a drunk and my mom had been gone for years. The judge gave me a choice, Army, or jail. So, being a smartass, I thought I was getting away with something by enlisting, but I found a home. First of all, I excelled in all my training. I actually liked being told what to do, having my food and clothes supplied, my bed always there, transportation provided. These weren’t always first class, but from where I came from, they were a definite step up. I just looked at the complainers around me with contempt.”

There was a pause, more like he was remembering, not searching for the words. I wondered if he was talking to me or to himself.

“Then, I found out I could take some schooling. I spent as much time in classes as I did on the field. They ran some special tests, the service liked to do that, the psych tests, reflex, recognition, and so on. I scored off the charts. I got into Ranger school and made the team. I got field promotions. Eventually, several of us got contacted by CIA and we were assigned by the Rangers to CIA and we did whatever they wanted.”

I watched his back as he recited the short story of the history of his life. He had his hands in his pockets, but I saw the tension in the muscles of his arms. The tension was growing with the story. This was bad.

“It didn’t take us long to start to dislike some of the assignments. Shooting a really bad guy as he walked out of a bank from a distance wasn’t a lot of fun, but it was acceptable. Then, there were the orders to blow up people that had…”

He finally turned, but didn’t look at me.

“…collateral damage, other people that might have been too close to the explosion. Some of us began to question the orders. As we were still in the military, they reminded us that you don’t question orders. Except it didn’t feel like the military. It felt like a killing squad.”

He leaned his hips back against the windowsill, finally looking at me with those intense dark eyes.

“They really liked me, I had a sixth sense. I often knew when we shouldn’t go through a door. When someone was telling a lie even when they had passed the lie detector. Then, they discovered that no one could sneak up on me, so they decided I was really an asset they didn’t want to give up, even if my enlistment was up. They offered me a lot, money, a higher title, more choice on assignments. They got down and dirty as they explained that like it or not, I was in. They weren’t letting me out. I knew they threatened some with families, but I had no one or nothing that they could hold over me, so one day when I had enough, I walked away.”

Now, he began to walk over to me. I sat up a little straighter and glanced towards the door, debating if I could make the distance. I remembered a couple of alleys with the bodies of men who were probably trained a lot better than I was. I sat and watched. He stopped in front of me.

“Then, I went to Cincinnati to find and help a friend. I got one of those sixth sense warnings, but it was from a very attractive woman, not some Columbian drug lord. Unfortunately, she drew the attention of the wrong people. I couldn’t help her and I couldn’t help my friend and here we are.” He was standing so close, his legs were against my knees. I slid back on the bed, leaning back on one arm, looking up at him.

I drew in a breath. “And here we are? Exactly where does that leave us? Toledo wasn’t high on my tour list.” I was pleased that my voice sounded steady because my body wasn’t. My stomach was heating up. I could feel a strange feeling crawling up my back.

“I thought we should follow up on that kiss at the
Seven-Eleven
.” He leaned down and I looked up in complete shock. I guess I was expecting anything but this. If he had drawn a gun, if he had threatened me, if he had told me he was turning me over to the CIA or the police or the military, or that F. J. Franklin guy, I would have had the anger to fight.

Instead, he lowered his head. I watched the dark eyes just came closer and I just sat frozen in shock. Then, I felt his hand on the back of my head, his lips touching mine and I closed my eyes. I have had a lot of dates. I had two guys I had ho-hum sex with. I didn’t have an active life, so I could count the guys I had kissed seriously on one hand. This wasn’t one of those types of kisses.

I just felt the soft touch at first, but, then there was a heat that built, and the touch of his tongue on my lips. I surprised myself when I became aware that my mouth was opening with an invitation that welcomed the invasion. The warmth along with the sensation was moving down my body. My brain was shutting down as my body opened up.

I felt the bed behind me, realizing that Tim had gotten us both down full-length on the bed, but he had not removed his mouth from mine. I didn’t want him to, because the intense feeling of the kiss was traveling through me. He finally raised his head, moving his lips so softly over my damaged cheek. Then, I felt the heat really turn on in my body. He went beyond my cheek to my ear. He found my neck, then the pulse that I knew was beating fast and heavy with each breath I was taking. There was another pulse that I was feeling, and it was in response to his hand which had found its way under my shirt and up over my bra, cupping one breast, which was responding in a way that I had never felt before.

“Tim,” I whispered, because that was all that would come out. I tried to pull his head up, but he burrowed further down into my collarbone. I gasped as he moved his hand down to the waist of my jeans. I felt him begin to unbutton the first metal clip so he could pull the zipper down.

“Tim.” I did get the name out louder this time, and he rose up. By this time, the heat in my stomach was actual pain.

“You don’t want this?” he asked me.

There was a strange look in his eyes, those magical black eyes. “I feel a connection. I don’t feel I am reading you wrong.”

I wasn’t sure what I wanted. I didn’t know how to explain it, but I knew I had to do something soon about the pain in my stomach. “Tim, you scare me beyond words. I know you are a killer. But beyond that, I will admit that I am drawn to you in a way I cannot explain.” He smiled, listening to me as he reached for the buttons on my blouse.

“Wait.” I heard the panic in my voice. He did stop on the third button, looking down at me. “First, I don’t know how to explain this, and I don’t want to disappoint you.” I went to draw up my legs. I was surprised to find he had a knee between mine, but I did draw up the one free leg to tilt my knee inward. He seemed to be waiting, so I tried to find the words. “First I have this real hot pain in my stomach. I have always had it when I get close to you. It is how I know when you are around, and right now, it is like a knife. Also, Tim, it is a little awkward to talk about, especially with you undressing me on a bed, but, well, see sex is not a very good thing for me. I tried it a couple of times and well, nothing. I am afraid with this pain in my gut, you are in for a big disappointment.” By this time, I had brought my knee up high and I pushed my free hand against my stomach.

Tim looked at me for another moment, then moved his body. I thought he was going to get up to leave, but he just sat enough to reach down and start pulling off my shoes. I lay still just watching, fascinated at how fast he got my ties undone. The shoes and socks were off. With him sitting up, my stomach was not eating itself as much. But, then he surprised me as he grabbed me by my hips and literally flipped me over face down on the bed. I let out a yelp with my arms up on each side of my head. I started to push up on my hands, but he placed
his
hand in the middle of my back gently to hold me back down as he pulled my jeans and panties off.

“Give me a chance.” It was all he said, but his voice was very low. I lay still as he moved off the bed, then he was back. I lay still as he pulled my blouse off and unsnapped my bra. He began kissing the back of my knee. I sucked in a quick breath from the erotic feeling, closing my eyes. The heat in my stomach was changing. The feeling that was traveling up from the touch of his mouth was something I couldn’t describe. I think I had accidentally touched a live wire. He moved upward, trailing wet kisses on the back of my leg that caused me to start to squirm. It felt unbelievably sensual with the heat of it sending me off the wall.

I felt his teeth as he nipped at the round of my bottom. I tried to turn over, but he held me pinned to the bed. I know that a low moan escaped my throat. He moved over my bottom to my backbone to run his tongue around the tip and regained his travel upward. By the time he got to my neck he had worked his hands up my arms. He was stretched out against me and I knew he was undressed. Using his legs with my arms, he eased me over onto my back. Again, he claimed my lips, but by this time I was ready. His kiss was something that I now longed for, that my mouth responded to as if it were part of me to have his lips on mine. I was surprised when he pulled my tongue. I felt the gentle bite of his teeth and the thrill of the threat of the teeth made muscles curl all the way to my toes.