Healing Rain (22 page)
Raina laughs as Kas ends the call before slapping Michael on the back, “I didn’t know you were coming. We were getting ready to grab some lunch if you want to join us.”
“That sounds great.”
Kas’ picks up on the hint of apprehension in Michael’s voice. “Everything alright? Gotta a problem with a case?”
Michael nods his head, rubbing his chin hesitantly.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” Kas asks, a little concerned, Michael has never been one to beat around the bush.
Michael puts his arm around Raina’s shoulder, “Actually, I need your wife.”
“Sure, how can I help?” Raina answers eagerly, thinking he needs her to help with something technical.
Kas bristles at the resigned supplication clouding Michael’s eyes. “What exactly is it you need Raina to do?”
Letting out a quick breath, Michael throws the question out there, already knowing the reaction he will receive, “I need Raina to come to New Jersey with me to help infiltrate a ring of traffickers we’ve been after for months, but can’t seem to get a strong hold on.”
“And you need my wife for this stronghold?” Kas asks, his declination already evident in his tone.
“The suspected leader owns a night club, and they are currently looking for a guitarist and lead singer for their band. The last ones there had a falling out and split. You’ve met Brent, one of my agents. He has killer chops, making a grown man all teary when he plays his guitar.”
“You want Raina to sing.” He shakes his head, “I’m sorry, Michael, but we need her here.”
Even without Kas’ freakish skills, Raina picks up on Michael’s disappointment. “Kas, can I talk with you for a moment, please?” she asks, her jade eyes imploring his. Her gaze doesn’t waver when he gives her a look, clearly telling her it’s not going to happen. “Please,” she requests again, the tone of her plea making it a little harder to ignore.
Kas’ jaw tightens, knowing his headstrong, determined wife is getting ready to try to change his mind.
Michael sees his only chance and heads towards the door. “I’ll let you two have a moment.”
“No, Raina,” Kas’ tone is adamant before she even begins.
“Erik can process the information on the Parker’s being monitored. If I can help Michael’s team to stop this ring, I want to.”
Kas sighs, brushing his knuckles across her cheek, “It’s not happening, Rain.”
“Why?” her is voice edged with belligerence at his finality.
“Raina, drop it!” he spouts, turning away from her.
She places a hand on his arm, knowing exactly why he doesn’t want her to go, understanding the strength behind his need to protect her. “I’ll be fine. I’ve learned a lot from Si fu Shang, I can take care of myself.”
Despite his best effort not to, his lips curve into a smile at his wife’s stubborn tenacity. “Darlin’, both Si fu Shang and I are impressed with your quick progress, but you’re still a newbie.”
Michael bursts through the door, “I’ll watch out for her, Pierce.”
Raising his brow, he rests his irritated, resolved gaze on Michael.
“Sorry, these walls are paper thin.”
Raina launches her next tactic, “It would provide a needed distraction.”
Kas glares at Raina exasperatedly, knowing she’s referring to the recent issues with Chris. “That’s not fair,” he admonishes.
Chewing on her lip, she sheepishly peeks at him through her lashes, “I know, but is it working?”
Michael pipes in, seeing Kas’ defense weakening, “I’ll take care of her, you have my word.”
Looking back and forth between the two, he lets out a grunt in defeat, raking his hand through his hair.
Raina throws her arms around him.
“Not so fast, darlin’,” Kas warns, “are you sure you can do this?”
Her self-deprecating look of waning confidence tugs at him, and he quickly clarifies his meaning. “I’m not doubting your talent, no one can argue that you have mad skills when you sing,” he reassures her. “But, what if you get up there and freeze again?” he finishes softly, needing her to take that possibility into careful consideration.
He can see her mind spinning the chances of that happening around in her pretty head, and part of him wishes he kept his mouth shut, not wanting to dampen her fragile confidence. Fierce pride fills him when he sees the familiar spunky spark burn bright jade.
“If it means that it might help save some girls from being forced into slavery, I can do it.”
Michael throws his arm around both of their shoulders. “We have a couple of days to loosen her up before we go.” His relieved smile meets her slightly timid one, “Now, where are we going for lunch?”
“Again. This time, don’t look at me, Raina,” Kas tells her, backing towards the rear wall of the college auditorium.
Raina tries to force herself to ignore Kas’ presence, an impossibly difficult task when every fiber of her reacts to him just being close to her. Michael restarts the music, and Raina takes a deep breath, trying to pretend she is someone else standing on the stage. Her voice is tentative for only a few chords before she feels herself getting lost in the rhythm. Kas shakes his head, his grin spreading across his face as he watches Raina, his love for her obvious as her confidence blooms.
She finishes the song strongly and is greeted by a couple of seconds of silence, causing her shaky level of self-assurance to rapidly deflate before Kas walks towards her, his loud clapping echoing throughout the auditorium. “Amazing, Rain, truly amazing.”
Her cheeks flush at his compliment and Michael’s affirmation telling her that she is going to nail the audition.
Everyone meets at Moe’s, wishing Raina good luck before she leaves with Michael tomorrow. Sara, Susanna, and Maya look at Raina conspiratorially as they leave, telling her they are coming over before she leaves for the audition, leaving Raina a little nervous about the undisclosed reason behind their enthusiasm.
As promised, the trio greets Kas as he opens the door. He glances at the bags in their hands and the sly smiles on their secretive faces. He squints his eyes, pushing the door open the rest of the way so they can come in, “I don’t want to know what all of you are up to.”
Sara shoots him a wicked grin as they head towards the bedroom.
A half-hour later, the bedroom door opens, and the paper Kas was reading slips from his hands, dropping onto his lap as he gawks at his wife, his completely decked out wife. Make-up is on her usually fresh, natural face. Her body is dressed in the trendiest skin tight jeans. An emerald sheer lace blouse is hugging a tight black mid-riff spaghetti strap tank cut low on her creamy, ivory chest. Her feet and calves are covered in sleek, black, sexy high heel boots, and a cropped black leather jacket dangles from her hand as she smiles shyly at her speechless husband, her dark red bottom lip slipping nervously between her teeth as she glances self-consciously at a gaped-mouth Kas.
“I’m going to change,” she stammers, quickly turning towards the bedroom but Sara grabs her arm.
“Oh, no you’re not.” Sara glares at Kas, “Say something.”
He clears his throat, all of his earlier reservations about her going slamming into him, and brand new reasons of why she shouldn’t go are popping in his head like over-cooked popcorn. “You look . . . . hot,” he begins, shoving his hands in his pockets to hide his body’s treacherous response, “but, maybe the outfit’s a little too revealing.”
Susanna scoffs, “Nonsense, she’s going to blow them away at the audition. Look at her, she’s so friggin hot, she’s on fire.”
“You’re not helping her case any right now, Susanna,” Kas spouts.
Sara rolls her eyes, pulling Raina further into the living room. “You look amazing, besides, you don’t have time to change, Michael will be here any minute.”
Seeing her slipping confidence, Kas bites back his overwhelming desire to demand she change, knowing the reaction every hot-blooded man will have to her new look, a magnified reaction to their already lusty stares at her when she is dressed modestly in regular jeans and a t-shirt. “They’re right, you look incredible. You always do,” he manages to allow himself to admit. He tears his eyes away from her to answer the knock on the door, wanting to punch Michael hard in the mouth when he sees the carnal blaze kindle in his eyes when his gaze lands on Raina, struggling to remember his place.
Michael catches the scathing glare and shrugs his shoulders, giving Kas a guilty grin as he shrinks back a step. “Sorry, man, I’m only human.”
“Yeah, well, you can keep your homosapien eyes to yourself,” he only partially jokes.
“Absolutely, I can do that,” Michael tries to assure him, both fully aware that he’s completely lying through his teeth.
Kas manages to relax somewhat, knowing Michael is a good man, and even though his eyes may wander, he’s not the type of man to cross that kind of line. He pulls Raina into his arms, wishing she wasn’t going, hoping it won’t take long for Michael’s team to take the ring down so she can come home. Kissing her bye, his mind replays last night, and how she made him come completely undone, her sensually talented body showing him exactly how much she’s going to miss him.
“You’re smearing your lipstick,” Sara scolds, tugging Raina away and sooshing her towards Michael.
Pulling her created license from his back pocket, he hands it to her, “You will be Jules, and Brent is Caleb while you’re undercover.”
Raina takes the license, nodding her head before giving Kas one last look of longing, hints of regret and uncertainty edging her eyes.
“You’re going to do great, sweetheart. We’ll all be here cheering you and Brent on. We’ll be listening to the audition on the feed Erik set-up.”
She gives him another quick hug as Michael opens the door for her, “I love you.”
“Love you, too. Now, get your hot butt to Jersey and knock em dead.”
The outside of the club is nothing special, Raina muses as Brent pulls the sedan into the lot. She takes a deep breath, willing the butterflies to stop fluttering uncontrollably in her stomach. Brent looks deliriously happy when she glances at him, grinning like he’s just won the lottery. She wishes she had a fraction of his exuberance instead of the unbelievable urge to puke.
Brent takes one look at her and laughs, “You okay?”
Raina nods, afraid to open her mouth, not wanting to tempt the nausea upwards. He checks the transmitter and nudges her to check hers, watching worriedly as she fumbles with numb fingers. “Seriously, Raina, are you going to be alright?”
Swallowing hard, she forces a smile and meets his gaze, her eyes steadier than her nerves, “Let’s do this.”
He rewards her with a killer grin before grabbing his guitar, looking the part perfectly with his stylishly messy hair, dark, ripped jeans, and light blue flannel shirt over his white tee, complimenting his stark blue eyes. He bumps her shoulder excitedly as he opens the door. The inside of the club is a drastic difference to the plain, understated entrance. Raina momentarily forgets her bad case of nerves as her widened eyes take in the swank, sophisticated night club. The walls are an earthy bronze with panels of mixed hue pebbles under a thin sheen of water continuously flowing over the small stones. The ceiling has copper, oval designs covering the pitch black tiles. The bar is a bit more dramatic with jagged shards of glass providing a spectacular cover over the bar, reflecting the shades of muted blue, green, and pumpkin lights shining from the tiered, suspending sphere globes. The seating is spread throughout the large room in a mixture of tables and long, red plump couches in front of several round mosaic table tops.
Her nausea-inducing butterflies re-strategize their attack, hitting her square in the gut when she turns and sees the stage behind a large crowd of musicians practically foaming at the mouth for the same coveted job. The nervousness radiating through the crowd seems to fuel Brent, doing just the opposite to Raina, sucking the precious air right out of her. The talented duo before them is almost done, and Brent turns towards Raina, feeling nervous for the first time when he sees the stark paleness of her petrified face.
“Breathe,” he whispers.
Her response is a tight nod.
Quickly glancing at the stage, he takes her arm and pulls her to the side. “I need you to do this, Raina. We all need you to do this. These traffickers are ruthless, and we’ve got to get them this time.”
Hearing the desperation in his voice, she pulls herself together, “I know.”
Brent studies her, panic flashing in his eyes when they are called.
“I’m fine, Brent. I can do this,” she assures him, reminding herself exactly why she is here, forcing her body to cooperate with her mind.
“Okay,” he breathes, uncertainty lingering in his blue gaze.
Raina takes the stage, closing her eyes when Brent starts to play. She pictures Kas, willing his image to stay in her head as she starts to sing. Brent visibly relaxes when her sultry voice picks up strength with each chord.
Kas
is
surrounded
by the whole team, Dexter, Erik, Derrick, and his team joining them as they listen to the audition from the stream feeding from Michael’s computer in New Jersey. His heart swells with pride as he hears his wife’s talented voice rise and fall, perfectly matching the tempo. Everyone is quiet until the song is done, then Austin lets out a loud whistle.
“Hell, yeah, they nailed it!” Austin proclaims proudly.
“Yeah, they did,” Kas agrees, his chest constricting with a heady mixture of relief and concern.
“Is there anything that girl of yours can’t do?” Derrick laughs, thoroughly impressed at the amazing show he just heard.
Brent
grabs
Raina,
swinging her around in his arms, “We did it!” He puts her down, holding her out at arm’s length, “I was told you could sing, but dang, girl, you rocked it up there.”
Raina blushes at his praise, extremely relieved they got the gig. “You were pretty amazing yourself. You really know how to make the guitar come to life.”
“I have my moments,” he winks at her, his blue eyes sparkling. Grabbing her hand, he ushers her into the car, in a hurry to get to the meeting point with Michael.
“Well, done,” Michael beams as they exit the vehicle, hardily slapping Brent on the back while he pulls Raina in for a hug. He takes a set of keys out of his pocket, “Your apartment is on Stiles. It has two bedrooms but you have to share a bathroom.”
Raina nods as Brent takes the keys, she feels a little dazed, all of this suddenly becoming very real. She never thought of having to share a place with another man. The uncomfortable thought tugs at her, making her miss Kas fiercely.
“Your suitcases are already there, and the fridge is full. Go to your new home, get some rest before you perform tomorrow night, you deserve it.”
Brent closes his guitar case, nodding at Raina, letting her know he’s ready to leave. He watches her make her way down the stage steps to the rest of the band members waiting at the door. They have performed every night the past week, and Brent is impressed with how Raina is relaxing more each time. He’s glad they have tomorrow night off, well, off from performing anyway, but is frustrated that they haven’t gained any ground with the trafficker’s yet. Brody, the band’s over-sexed drummer, has been flirting relentlessly with Raina, and Brent chuckles as he sees how she graciously steps out of Brody’s grasp, making up an excuse that she forgot something, when he slips his arm territorially around her shoulders.