Holding Out For A Hero: SEALs, Soldiers, Spies, Cops, FBI Agents and Rangers (158 page)

“Your job?” Half insulted, she placed her hands on her hips. “I’m not a child, Griff.”

Now he looked a little perturbed. “I know that. But you ran after me. Why?”

“I was worried.”

“You were trying to protect me.”

“I guess you could say that.”

Stalemate.

“Then we’re even, right?” he asked.

“If I fall down and scrape my knees, I don’t need you to kiss my boo-boo and tell me it’ll be all right.”

The ghost of a smile touched his mouth, and he slipped a hand into her hair and drew her toward him. “You sure? I think I might like kissing your boo-boos, as you call them.”

Heat flashed through her face, and a desire coiled in loins as she allowed him to draw her against his hard body.

She laughed softly. “You know what I mean.”

He leaned in and brushed his mouth over hers. She returned the embrace, unable to resist, her hands bunching his coat as she held on. His kiss was gentle and warm, yet she felt a hot, banked need in his touch. His arms slipped around her back, warming and caressing. Big and gentle, his hands made her forget what they’d experienced in the weird house. All Cassie could feel was his mouth on hers, his tongue stroking deep and caressing. A man’s touch had never consumed her this way before, never made her long for more, for his body deep inside hers.

And God, she did want that. She ached with it, and the throb between her legs made her shift and moan softly against his mouth. She stuffed her fingers into his silky hair, loving the sensation against her skin. She arched into his strength, glorying in the way his body supported and protected. She couldn’t stop her curiosity, and smoothed her hands over his stomach before circling his back with her arms. God, his stomach was like rock, his waist slim, his back muscular. He cupped her face in both hands and tasted her the way no man had ever done before.

He drew back, taking one step and then another away from her. Her arms felt empty, and her body aching with unfulfilled desires.

“I’m not trying to be controlling,” he said.

“What are you trying to do then?”

He cleared his throat. “I care about you, okay? I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

Her body still hot with need, she tried to ignore the feeling that if she reached out, if she made a move, he’d stay with her. Would she want that? How could she when she couldn’t trust him one hundred percent?

“Let’s sleep on this. Tomorrow we’ll find out what happened.” His voice stayed easy and low as made to leave her room. He opened the door and glanced back at her. “Goodnight.”

After he left and she locked the door, loneliness greeted her. She went to the bathroom to retrieve a glass. She poured the rest of the small whiskey into the glass and slipped. She doubted she’d sleep tonight.

* * *

He’d watched the couple leave the house and satisfaction warmed the ice inside him. Cold always ate away at him when he stepped into the home. Yet when they’d arrived, he’d mourned powerlessness. They would walk in the door, and he couldn’t stop them. At least he didn’t think he could. When they’d entered, though, he felt their caution. Her fear radiated toward him a moment before she thought she saw something. He stood still, expecting them to shout, to see him and ask who he was. He heard their conversation about needing a phone, their calls of hello. They’d looked right through him.

They can’t see you
.

Terrified and elated all at once, he’d considered speaking. His voice had caught in his throat. He had no voice, and they obviously didn’t know he was there. He grinned as power flowed inside him and grew moment by moment. Oh, yes. He did have power. He realized he could harm whoever he wanted now. When he’d hunted before, the women he’d taken and used to his satisfaction had never given him enough fight. They’d always tried, of course. There was that one that whimpered and basically gave in, her heart stopping even before he’d finished with her. Her blank, staring eyes had mocked him. Damn her little bitch eyes, blank and cold, her soul gone. He couldn’t hurt her then, and he’d known it. She’d fled the torture that fueled his need, that made him long for one more woman and one more, until his need was incurable and insatiable. The woman who walked in with the tall man had dark hair and a slightly foreign look he couldn’t pinpoint. It intrigued him.

This…this new development gave him bigger delight. More payoffs. He loved it. The couple couldn’t see him, and he laughed. He’d froze, wondering if they’d heard him. The foreign-looking woman had stopped moving, and he guessed she heard something even if she didn’t know what. He waited, but the woman had followed the man and gave no other indication that she knew someone lurked in the house. He’d trailed them until the man’s weight cracked the floor, and the guy fell through. Distress hit the woman, and he experienced her fear. He savored it, longed for it and drank it. The nourishment was sweet, burning ecstasy more potent than orgasm. His happiness was sidelined by the other man’s emotions. A wave of anger had rushed through the guy who’d fallen down the hole. When the man had climbed from the hole and they explored the rest of the rooms, he found himself wishing they’d stay.

Since he’d entered the house at night, a strange desire to become one with the structure overran every other need. But he’d be lonely if he stayed here forever. He must have other like-minded people surrounding him. When they’d left the house, his strength danced and wavered and weathered a bouncing, crackling wave. He strained to materialize, to return to his body in full form. As their car drove away, he knew his body had started to become visible again. He could see his own limbs in the semi-darkness. He reached for a light switch and discovered he’d come back to full form as lights came on in the house. Breathing deeply, he enjoyed the sensation of forming into full human form. He couldn’t decide, as the people drove away, if he enjoyed being real. Perhaps staying light and airy would prove better than existing in a real, touchable world. He’d never fit in. Why should he start now? But, if he wished to continue visiting the house and soaking in its delicious evil, he must return in full force to his solid form. So he did. Reluctantly.

Blackout: Chapter Six

Wednesday

A knock on Cassie’s door woke her the next morning. She groaned and rolled over. She opened one eye and spotted the digital alarm clock on the bedside table. Ten o’clock in the morning.

She blinked and blinked again and tried to orient herself. Faint light trickled in from a small part in the drapes. With a another groan she sat up, half sure she’d imagined the knock on the door. It came again.

She slipped out of bed and put on her flannel robe. She hadn’t brought slippers with her, so she drew on tube socks to keep her feet warm. The room was chilled like a meat locker. More pounding came on the door, but this time a voice came with it.

“Cassie?”

Griff?

She hurried to the door and peered through the security peep hole. Griff stood at her door, his eyes clearly worried and frowning.

She opened the door and swung it wide. Instantly relief filled his face, and she wondered what the hell would alter him like this.

“Cassie. God, what took you so long to answer?” His gaze danced over her robe. “Are you sick?”

“No…I…come in.”

She gestured for him to enter, and after he did she closed the door and locked it.

He cupped her face in both hands. “You don’t look all right. Were you sleeping?”

Warmed by the heat in his touch, she forgot the freezing room. She placed her hands over his. “I was dead to the world until you knocked.”

He cupped her forehead a second. “No fever.”

She smiled, touched by his concern. “Thanks for checking on me, but I’m all right. I guess I just needed the rest.”

“Could be more than that.” He moved farther into the room.

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t wake up until an hour ago. Barely dragged my ass into the shower. After I left your room last night I was so tired I fell on the bed. Woke up still dressed.”

As inappropriate as it was, an image of him totally naked flashed into her mind. She licked her lips and tried to quell the reaction. She was practically drooling on him. Where had her objectivity gone? He wore a sweater of deep ruby red which hugged his broad shoulders, and her libido noticed his muscular ass in his well-fitted and worn jeans.

She shoved down the lust. “I don’t know why I slept so late. It was only seven o’clock when we came back here last night.”

His frown said he wanted to understand what had happened but didn’t have a clue. “Up to having breakfast?”

Her stomach chose that moment to growl loud enough to wake the dead. She grinned and he laughed.

“I guess you have your answer. Coffee sounds wonderful right now,” she said.

“I’ll meet you down at the restaurant.”

After he left Cassie turned up the thermostat and peeked between the drapes. Snow from last night had already melted. Groaning, she headed to the shower. While drying her hair, she looked in the mirror and made a face. God, she looked like hell. She’d never seen circles under her eyes that dark.

Liar.
She remembered the day after the tsunami, when she’d dared to look in the mirror and saw her hair in a tangled mess, her face smudged with all matter of dirt.

She’d given up on being a made up Barbie doll after that. This morning she wouldn’t bother with more than a little powder, eye shadow, liner and blush.

Downstairs in the restaurant she saw Griff settled at a booth. The restaurant had one other couple at a table eating omelettes. After she sat down across from Griff, the waitress served them both coffee. Cassie added cream and sipped the strong liquid.

“Ahh,” she said. “Java.”

He laughed and took a drink of his black coffee. “Yeah, I could practically live on coffee. I have before.”

“When you were in the marines?”

“And as a marshal.”

Instead of discussing last night, she turned toward understanding Neal Griffin. “Do you thrive on action?”

He glanced out the window at the fresh, bright day. “You might say that.”

“Why?”

“Good question. I haven’t thought about it much.”

She wondered if he didn’t scrutinize his own motivations at all. She didn’t plan to push him on that, certain he wouldn’t answer.

“And you’re a bit conservative,” he said.

She made a small noise of disagreement. “You don’t know me as well as you think. I’ve had a few adventures.”

“Such as?”

She took another long drink of coffee. “Zip line. Some rock climbing.”

His eyebrows lifted. “Good deal.”

“Don’t get too comfortable. I was terrified both times and wouldn’t do either again. It’s not in me to put life and limb out there. Someone like you…it seems like it’s a part of your personality.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Of course not. I’ve always thought men and women like you were special. There have to be warriors.”

“You’re not a pacifist?”

“In an ideal world I would be.”

I’d rather make love with you than war.
Her face heated as that thought ran through her head. She looked into her coffee cup. She wasn’t even sure she understood making love. She’d read about it, imagined it. But all she’d really had was sex and not very good sex at that.

“The only people I make war on these days are criminals,” he said.

Cassie decided to steer clear of asking him work-related questions. She had a feeling he’d stonewall her. “Thanks for coming to check up on me this morning. I don’t know why I was so tired.”

“Maybe we both caught something and that’s why we’re feeling out of it.”

“I suppose it’s possible.”

The waitress brought their breakfasts. They’d almost finished eating when Griff looked behind her.

“Oh, boy,” he said as he looked past her. “Incoming.”

She glanced around and saw Dougray coming their way. “Damn.”

“I could tell him to get lost.”

“Let’s keep it cordial.”

Dougray sauntered up to them, an easy smile on his face. “How are you guys today?”

She smiled, hoping if she kept this friendly he’d go away. “We’re great. How about you?”

He nodded. “I saw a car at that house on the hill last night when I drove by. Was that your car?”

Cassie glanced quickly at Griff and caught his wary expression. “Yeah.”

“Why were you there?” Dougray asked.

She took a closer look at the Scot and noted the dark circles under his eyes. “We could ask you the same question.”

Dougray sighed. “You know why. My sister.”

Wariness remained in Griff’s eyes, but he answered with, “My car broke down and our cell phones wouldn’t work. We saw someone in the house and hoped they had a phone.”

Dougray’s eyes widened. “What? You saw someone in there?”

Griff leaned forward. “What else do you know about this house that you aren’t telling us?”

Dougray slid into the booth next to Cassie. “I did my research here in town. Not town records but people who live around here.”

“Penny Cribbs told us the history of the house and all the rumors,” Griff said.

Dougray nodded. “I’ll bet she didn’t tell you what I found out.”

“So tell us.” Griff didn’t sound too happy or interested.

Cassie’s gaze bounced from Dougray to Griff, not liking the tension between them. She’d lost her appetite but ate anyway. Griff didn’t hesitate to continue his meal.

Dougray leaned his elbows on the table. “People who live on the other side of the road up the hill a ways say the place freaks them out.”

“They talked to you about it?” She didn’t believe it.

Dougray’s long blond hair swayed as he nodded. He brushed it out of his face. “They’d heard about my sister, and they met me many times before. They wanted to help me.”

“I can verify that.” Griff sounded no nonsense.

The Scot’s dubious expression grew deeper. “How?”

Griff reached into his back pocket and flipped out a wallet and laid it on the table with his badge showing. “That’s how I can find out.”