Man with the Muscle (12 page)

“That's Grandma's training.”

She squeezed his hand at her waist and smiled. “I hear such love and unabashed gratitude every time you speak of your family. I never expected that, either. You fight with me—”

“They're discussions, Red.”

“—yet you stand beside me when I need a friend.” Or lie beside her. A tremor of awareness that had nothing to do with comfort and everything to do with sexual hunger rippled along every inch of her skin. “You're a little hard for me to figure out.”

He misread her shiver as a sign she was feeling chilled, and tucked her beneath the covers again. He stretched out on top of the comforter and pulled her into his arms, facing him. “Oh, and that's eatin' you up inside, is it?”

She gave his shoulder a playful swat, followed almost immediately by an unexpected yawn. “Hard, I said, but not impossible. I won't quit trying.”

Maybe he was feeling the same sexual tension, but he was determined to give her what she'd asked for. He traced relaxing lines up and down her back and continued the quiet conversation. “You're not what I expected, either.”

“Daddy's society princess? That's one of the reasons I went to work for Dwight Powers—I want to prove I'm not that stereotype.”

“Trust me, Red, you are too unique to fit into any stereotype I know of.”

That comment gave her pause. “You know, that may well be the most meaningful compliment any man has ever given me.”

“Who said it was a compliment?”

She giggled against the fragrant warmth of his skin.
But his strong arms and abundant heat and quiet conversation were working. Her eyelids had lead weights on them and it was getting harder and harder to focus. She nestled into the pillow of his shoulder with her hand resting at the middle of his chest. “Is there anything else you like about me, Alex?”

She felt his lips in her hair, felt the absolute security of his arms around her. He was taking care of her. In the tenderest way possible, he was giving her exactly what she needed.

“The list is too long to get into tonight. You need your sleep, and so do I.”

Audrey wasn't sure when the darkness finally claimed her and she fell asleep. But she knew she wasn't alone. She was in a place where the nightmares couldn't reach her. She was calm, centered, secure in her dreams.

And for the first time in a long while, she believed that everything in her life might just turn out all right.

Audrey cracked one eye open as a narrow ribbon of light fell across her face. She put up her hand, wanting no part of pictures and reporters intruding on her blissful slumber this morning.

Slumber? Morning?

She rolled over to a cold spot and shivered. Both eyes snapped open. The bright line of light was peeking through the gap between her drapes. The storm had passed, the alarm clock was beeping and she was alone.

Alone.

She threw back the covers and scrambled out of bed. “Alex?”

The intimacy of holding each other through the night had passed. The doors were closed, the room was silent, his gun and badge were gone. How dare he? Not even a goodbye? He'd done his duty by her—he'd talked and shared and aroused and comforted and now he was gone? Or had something happened? Had his team been called out on a dangerous assignment? Had someone gotten onto the estate, after all? She went through confusion, anger, hurt and, finally, concern, as she ran to the sitting-room door and pulled it open.

“Alex!” She screamed when she saw the giant perched on the end of her couch and jumped back to cling to the door frame. “Who are you—? Where—?”

“Trip Jones, ma'am. Remember me from yesterday in the park? I'm a friend of Alex's from SWAT Team One. Didn't mean to startle you.”

Now she saw the gun at his hip, the insulated SWAT jacket draped over the back of the couch. He set down his book and stood. And stood. And stood while she shrank back another step and estimated the distance to the hallway.

“Shrimp asked me to come over and keep an eye on things while he gets cleaned up.”

Shrimp? She swiveled her head to the sound of running water and the door to the bathroom swinging open.

“Audrey!” Alex ran straight toward her, clutching a towel around his waist, dripping on her rug. With a muttered curse, he stopped and turned to the big man with the light brown hair. “You couldn't have announced yourself?”

“I didn't realize you hadn't told her that we were here. We were just getting acquainted.”

“Wait a minute,
we?
” There were more armed police officers lurking around the house?

“Shrimp called for reinforcements.” Trip grinned, never retreating one step from Alex's advance. “Now I can see why. You're sportin' a real tough-guy look there. Where are you hiding your gun?”

“You don't want to know.” Alex slicked his fingers through his wet hair and glanced back at the bathroom.

“Why don't you go outside and check the grounds?”

“Holden and Sarge are already on that. Captain Cutler
is on the phone with Quinn Gallagher's office, tracking down the security logs to find out everyone who's come and gone from the estate over the past month or so.” He shrugged his black jacket onto his broad shoulders. “I called your brother like you asked. He's got his dog here to see if he can pick up any trace of intruders on the grounds.”

“There's a dog?”

“K-9 unit, ma'am.” Trip turned his warm hazel eyes to her before pulling a black KCPD ball cap over his super-short, military-cut hair. “Although I don't know if he'll be able to pick up much after all that sleet and snow we had last night.”

With one hand holding tight to the towel that rode atop his hips, Alex gestured to the hallway door. “Why don't you track down Pike and see how he and Hans are doing?”

“Pike's the brother, Hans is the dog,” Trip clarified, easily looking over Alex's shoulder to her before opening the door.

Alex's irritation was as evident as Trip's amusement as he shooed the replacement babysitter out. “I've got this covered in here, big guy. Go find the dog.”

“You ain't got much covered.” The door was closing in his face as Trip added, “Nice to see you again, ma'am.”

Alex ducked into the bathroom to turn off the water and scrub a towel over his short, curling hair. He draped the second towel around his neck and apologized. “Sorry about that. When I called for backup this morning so I could get a couple hours of hard sleep, I didn't think my entire team would show up. You were zonked, so I
thought I'd be done before you woke to warn you about the shift change.”

Now that she recognized Trip Jones and understood why he was here, she remembered something Alex had said to her outside the courthouse yesterday. Yes, she'd been startled, but he had nothing to apologize for. She grabbed the ends of the towel hanging over his chest and tugged him closer. “Your team is here to back you up because you need them. We need them.”

She tugged a little harder and angled his face down to hers to kiss him. His skin was steamy from the shower, his face clean-shaven and smooth. And his lips were just as warm and divine and wonderful as she remembered as he tunneled his fingers into her hair and deepened her
thank you
into a taste of a passionate
good morning.
Audrey curled her toes into the carpet, still holding on to the towel, as she forced herself to pull away.

“Thanks for last night. I guess I needed a little backup myself. You were right about me needing to realize that.” She tickled her palm over the curls of hair on his chest. “But the reality of today is I have to return to the courthouse and face off against Cade Shipley and his client.”

“Wait a minute. Rewind. I was right?” He slid his hands to the small of her back and pulled her flush against him, smiling against her mouth before he reclaimed it. “I have a feeling that's not something I'm going to hear too often.”

Audrey squealed a token protest as the water from his wet skin soaked through her pajamas. It was like standing skin-to-skin, softness to hardness, need to need. Her pulse caught fire. Her nipples pearled beneath the friction of his chest moving against hers, shooting little
tendrils of heat curling down inside her. Audrey wound her arms around his neck and pulled herself up on tiptoe, aligning her hips with his, recapturing the closeness they'd shared through the night, intensifying it.

Alex moaned deep in his throat and tore his mouth from hers a split second before the door opened and Trip walked back in. “Sorry. Don't mind the elephant in the room. Forgot my book. By the way, you aren't the only company here this morning. A Miss Darnell? Mr. Kline spoke to Captain Cutler and we cleared her. Otherwise, no one has been here except the paperboy and the morning staff. Just wanted you to know that some of us around here are doing our job, shrimp.” He tipped his hat to Audrey and winked at Alex. “You two carry on.”

“Get out of here!” Alex ordered.

Audrey landed flat on her feet as Alex released her and whirled around. The wad of towel that had been around his neck hit the closing door as Trip grinned all the way out.

She curled her arms around her waist, setting up a definite barrier as Alex reached for her to resume the kiss. His gaze narrowed and he settled for rubbing his hands up and down the silk on her arms. “Audrey?”

She backed away a step. She hadn't heard the knock on the door, or whatever had alerted him to Trip's return. He'd been on guard, as usual—aware of everything going on around him. He hadn't forgotten about the threats and his duty, while for the past few moments she'd forgotten about everything except getting that towel off his hips and getting even closer.

She'd forgotten about her duty. To the people of Kansas City.

“Don't be so hard on him.” The interruption gave her the moment she needed to get her head screwed on straight. Burying those impulsive urges made her realize a bit of modesty was in order. She went to the door and picked up the towel to cover her now see-through pajamas. “I think the big guy's funny.”

“Don't encourage him.
I'm
the guy on the team who gets picked on.”

“He probably wasn't expecting us to move so fast into that…” Achy, raw, foolishly wanting to tumble back into bed and share the ultimate closeness feeling that was still reeling through her veins. “I'm sure he wasn't expecting…that.”

“Apparently, you weren't, either.”

Had she ever seen such an unreadable expression on Alex's face? “I'm sorry.”

“Don't.” He strode back into the bathroom and collected his jeans from the night before and a gym bag that Trip must have brought him. He tossed them onto the couch, pulled out a pair of black boxer-briefs, boldly dropped his towel and started dressing in front of her. Audrey shielded her eyes from that taut, head-to-toe physique and turned her head. “Don't apologize for acting on what you feel. Trust your gut. Don't over-analyze it and talk yourself out of what you want.” He shook out a crisp pair of jeans and stepped into them. Audrey lowered her hand and faced him, knowing he was looking her way. “I don't know what the problem is that you have with us, Red—if it's where I come from, or if you're like Pierce and think I'm just the hired help—”

“No.”

“—or if you just can't accept the idea that sometimes
things happen quickly between people.” He left his jeans unfastened around his hips and crossed the room to her. “We fit, Audrey. You and me, like no other woman I've known before. I don't question it. I don't need time to weigh the whys or why nots, I just accept it.”

“How do you know that?”

“I don't. I'm trusting my gut instincts. I feel something for you, you feel something for me. Why is that such a bad thing for you?”

Audrey hugged the towel more tightly in her arms. Alex Taylor's omniscient eyes really could see deep down inside her. No, she hadn't been expecting the intensity of her relationship with Alex to move so quickly. She hadn't been expecting any kind of relationship, period. She was a career woman with a life plan. Falling in love with him wasn't supposed to be on the agenda.

Falling in love?

Oh, Lord. Audrey pulled up the towel to her cheeks to hide the confusion and dismay and fear that his uncanny intuition about her was right on the money.

She did the cowardly thing and headed for the bathroom, plugging in her curling iron and retrieving her hair dryer, desperately needing to sort things out and regain some semblance of control over her life before continuing this conversation. “I have to be in court by 9:00 a.m.”

An unexpected hand cupped the back of her neck and turned her. Alex stamped her mouth with a hard kiss and quickly released her. But those dark brown eyes ensnared her with something else. He wouldn't let her be a coward. “You think about it, Red—because I know you like to think. You think about giving us a chance, and I'll be with you all the way. I'll go as fast or slow as
you like. But if you decide you just can't let yourself feel what you feel, do me the courtesy of letting me know, okay?”

Were those tears stinging her eyes? “I don't want to make a mistake. I don't want to hurt you.”

“I know.” He pulled the towel from her hands and dabbed at her eyes. “Maybe better than you do. But I'm worried that you're the one who'll really feel it if you don't give us a chance. Just think about it.”

Yes. She definitely needed to think. No matter what karmic wisdom Alex shared about knowing his feelings for people so quickly, this was definitely moving a little fast for her—this needing, this wanting. Her life was changing too fast for her to process. Had she missed something more than companionship developing between her father and Clarice? And it was more than a little scary to think how quickly she was losing control of the professional relationship she should be maintaining with Alex. Right now, she needed to backtrack away from this crazy passion and emotional intimacy and return to A.D.A.-bodyguard mode for a while. She pushed him out the bathroom door with a shaky smile. “Work, Alex. We both have work to do. I'll have to deal with this—with us—later.”

Alex's scent only intensified in the steamy room when she closed the door. But she couldn't be distracted by that right now. She shouldn't remember how secure she'd felt falling asleep in his embrace or how hurt she'd been thinking that he'd left her during the night. She couldn't think about kissing him and wanting him and feeling terrifyingly out of her comfort zone and perfectly in place each time he took her in his arms. Not right now.

Audrey stepped into the shower, turned her face into
the spray and let the pelting warmth of the water cleanse the distracting thoughts from her head. By the time she was drying her hair and putting on her makeup, she had the disturbing emotions triggered by Alex Taylor firmly under control. She was rejuvenated, reenergized and ready to take on whatever Judge Shanks, Cade Shipley and his menace-to-society client had to throw at her today.

She was buttoning her brown cashmere blazer over its matching skirt and coming down the stairs to grab a cup of coffee and a muffin when she heard the clatter of silverware on a plate and the sounds of distress coming from her father's office.

“Oh, my God.”

Her father's voice.

“What are they doing to her? My little girl.”

His pinched, gasping voice turned Audrey's walk into a run. “Daddy!”

“Mr. Kline!” the family cook, Mrs. Puente, called.

“Rupert? Oh, dear,” Clarice said.

“Don't let her see this,” Rupert demanded.

“Daddy? Alex!” she called to the trio of men and a big German shepherd huddled in a terse conversation just inside the front door.

Audrey dashed through the arched walnut door to find Mrs. Puente and Clarice Darnell hovering over her father in the leather chair behind his desk, trying to give him a glass of water and unbutton his shirt. Rupert Kline's narrowed gaze landed right on her as he clutched at his chest.

Heart attack.

“Daddy!” Audrey dashed to his side.

“It's okay, missy.” He tried to smile. “Just a flutter. It'll kick back…into rhythm…in a minute.”

She pulled the newspaper from his fist, focusing on his face.