Sealed With a Kiss (15 page)

Rachel walked ahead of him and stopped him in
his tracks. “I don’t want you to feel worse. I want you to spend
more time with your daughter.”

“Dad?” Bella side-stepped around Rachel and
headed straight into his arms. “I missed you. Is everything
okay?”

He held her close. “Everything is fine. How
was your play?”

Bella’s face glowed as bright as the lights
on the Christmas tree behind her. “It was wonderful. I remembered
all of the words to the songs.”

“That’s great, Bella.”

“Why couldn’t you be here?”

John looked into her brown eyes and felt like
the worst father in the world. “Some people were trying to hurt a
person that asked for our help. I needed to make sure the person
got home for Christmas.”

“And did they get home?”

John nodded.

“That’s okay, then. Frankie’s dad couldn’t
make it either. Can we invite him to our place to watch the play?
Tanner recorded it on his phone. He said he didn’t miss anything
this time.”

John pulled Bella into his arms. “Frankie and
his dad can come over for dinner as well, if they want to. If
Frankie gives us his phone number, I’ll give his dad a call.”

“Okay. I’ll find Frankie now.” Bella darted
between the people behind her. Tanner moved fast to keep up with
her.

“Does she need a bodyguard all of the time?”
Rachel whispered.

John wiped his hand over his eyes. He was so
tired that he could have fallen asleep standing up. “I need to talk
to you about what happened today, but I can’t do it here. We need
to go home.”

Rachel put a hand on his forehead. “You’ve
got a temperature.” She looked across the room and waved at Patty
Daniels. Within seconds, John’s housekeeper was standing beside
them.

“John isn’t well, Patty. Can you take him out
to his truck while I go and find Tanner and Bella?”

“I’ll be all right. No one died from a
temperature.”

Rachel stuck her hands on her hips and glared
at him. “You’re as stubborn as a mule, too. I’m not taking no for
an answer. Where’s Tank?”

“In my truck,” he muttered.

“Now you tell me. Patty, tell Tank to take
John to the hospital. We’ll meet you there.”

John wondered where Rachel’s bossy streak had
suddenly come from. He turned to say something to her, but she’d
disappeared into the crowd of people around them.

Patty linked her hand under his elbow. “You’d
better come with me, John. Why are we going to the hospital?”

“We aren’t. I’ll call Tank on my cell phone
and tell him to meet us at home.”

Patty shook her head. “Are you sure you know
what you’re doing?”

“As sure as I’ve been about everything in the
last few weeks. Let’s go home.” He glanced around the room one last
time. Tanner was walking toward him, talking to someone on his cell
phone. Bella and Rachel were beside him.

At least they were together tonight. What
happened tomorrow would be a whole different problem.

***

“I’m not staying here,” Rachel said. She’d
been sitting in John’s kitchen, enjoying a hot cup of tea with
Patty, when John walked into the room. He’d had a shower, changed
his clothes, and come up with his silliest idea yet.

At exactly ten o’clock at night, he’d told
her she was staying at his house. Not for the night, not even for
the week. But for the next month, or until whatever mess he’d made
was sorted out. And what annoyed her the most was that he hadn’t
even asked if it was okay. He’d told her. He didn’t want to know
what she thought about staying in his house or if she had other
things she needed to do. His decision wasn’t open for
discussion.

Patty had wisely left them to their
conversation. After John’s first earth shattering announcement,
Rachel wished she’d gone straight home from the Christmas play
instead of waiting to see if he was all right.

“You don’t have a choice.” John sat at the
table opposite her, frowning something fierce.

If he thought he could intimidate her with
his macho-man tactics, he was wrong. “Of course I have a choice. I
have a life that involves more than these four walls. I will not
hide inside while the rest of the world celebrates Christmas.”

“You don’t have to hide inside. You can do
whatever you want, but I can’t risk letting you go home each
afternoon on your own.”

“Fine. Ask one of your bodyguards to stay
with me. My apartment isn’t big, but I’ve got a spare bed. They
could drive with me to work each morning.”

“You’re safer here.”

Rachel felt like stamping her foot. “I don’t
want to stay here.”

John’s mouth set into a grim line. “It’s
better than being kidnapped.”

“What are you talking about? No one wants to
kidnap me.” She thought about the bullet graze on his arm, the
temperature that he’d been given antibiotics for. “You’re
delusional. You need to go to bed.”

“I am not delusional.”

“Don’t tell me this is payback for making you
see a doctor? It’s just as well Tank and Tanner have some common
sense between their ears. If you hadn’t gone to the hospital, you
could have been a lot worse than you are now.”

John dropped his head to his hands. “What did
I do to deserve you in my life?”

Rachel snorted. “Nowhere in my contract does
it state that I have to live here. And if someone’s trying to
kidnap me, then they’d better be worried. I’ve done self-defense
classes and I know how to use a frying pan.”

“A what?”

“A frying pan,” Rachel said slowly in case
his brain was having a hard time keeping up with their
conversation. “You know. A metal pan with a handle that you use for
frying food.”

“I know what a frying pan is. What has it got
to do with being kidnapped?”

Rachel sighed. “You’d know if you got hit
over the head with one.”

John tilted his head to the side. “You’re
crazy.”

“If you think that intelligent observation is
going to change my mind about staying here, you’re wrong.” Rachel
picked up her mug and took it across to the kitchen counter. “In
case I don’t see you before Christmas, enjoy your vacation.”

She opened the dishwasher and stacked her mug
inside. “If you haven’t already bought Bella a Christmas present,
she was hoping Santa might bring her a puppy. But with what’s
happening in your life, I’d say it was the last thing you
need.”

Rachel turned toward the kitchen door and
stopped. John was standing in the doorway with his arms planted
either side of the frame.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“There’s no point squinting your eyes at me
like a ninja turtle. And don’t get any ideas about using your
karate moves on me. I was a Navy SEAL. I know how to protect
myself.”

Rachel walked up to him and poked him in the
stomach with her finger. Okay, so he had tight abs, but that didn’t
mean she believed him. “You got punched in the face and shot in the
arm. I’d say your defensive moves are a bit rusty.”

“Really?”

Rachel didn’t like the way he was looking at
her. She squared her shoulders and waited to see what he’d do
next.

When he didn’t move, she started to go
through her list of vulnerable parts on the human body. She could
poke him in the eyes, nose and throat, but she didn’t want to hurt
him too much. That took out the groin and knees as well. She could
always karate chop his arm where the bullet had scraped his skin,
but that would be mean. That only left his stomach, and she knew
how hard those muscles were.

His smile was enough to make her wish she’d
been born bad.

“It’s not as easy as it looks, is it?”

John had no idea what he’d just unleashed.
There were lots of ways to be bad, and some of them didn’t involve
a whole lot of physical violence. In fact, some of them just
required a steady hand and a devious mind. Rachel pulled her bad
girl out and decided to work with what she had.

She stepped closer and John’s smile
disappeared.

Instead of a short, sharp jab to his abdomen,
Rachel ran her hands across his shoulders and down his chest. She
stopped at the buttons in front of her nose. “Some people find
these types of situations really easy to deal with.”

John swallowed. “They do?”

Rachel nodded and took half a step forward.
It was amazing what that small step did for her confidence. She
could see John’s pulse jump in the base of his throat, hear his
breathing speed up and match her own quick breath.

Before she lost track of why she was standing
hip-to-hip with her boss, her hands moved again, stroking John’s
chest through his shirt, creating havoc with both of their
heartbeats.

Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.

“Rachel?”

She lifted her face to his, focused on what
she was about to do.

“Unless you want me to kiss you, I’d suggest
we stop this now…” When Rachel didn’t move, he dipped his head
close.

Just before their lips touched, Rachel moved
her hands to his ribs and started tickling him. John jumped
backward, banged his arm on the doorframe, and said a word that
Mrs. Daniels wouldn’t have approved of.

“You really are crazy,” John said as Rachel
slipped past him and ran for the front door.

“Takes one to know one,” Rachel said over her
shoulder as she threw the door open. “Tell Bella I’ll see her on
Monday.” She turned to run outside and ended up plastered against a
hard male chest.

A pair of vice-like hands lifted her back
inside. “Everything okay in here, boss?”

Rachel blinked a few times before she figured
out what had happened. “Tank?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Making sure you don’t go home.”

Rachel stepped away from Tank and threw her
arms in the air. “I don’t believe this. You can’t make me stay in
this house.”

John kept his gaze focused on her. “I’ve
already spoken with the local police, the FBI, and the CIA. They
want you to stay here.”

Tank put his hand on the door handle. “I’ll
leave you alone. If you need me, I’ll be outside.” He shut the
front door and left Rachel with one less escape route.

She looked at John. His half-amused smile
reminded her of a cat who knew a bowl of cream wasn’t far away.
“You can get that smile off your face, John Fletcher. There’ll be
no repeat of our up close and snuggly moment. I was trying to get
away from you, not kiss you senseless.”

John sighed. “I’m getting too old for
this.”

“For the first time tonight you’re actually
making sense.”

“You think so?”

Rachel tilted her nose in the air. “I know
so.”

John took a step forward. “Really? So how do
you account for the blush on your face?”

Rachel put her hands to her cheeks and felt
the heat of her bad girl actions. “It’s warm inside, that’s all.
Now if you’ve finished annoying me for one night, I’m going to
bed.”

John raised his eyebrows.

“Alone, so don’t get any funny ideas.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it. If we were sleeping
together, I’d have to tie you to the bedposts to make sure you
didn’t strangle me during the night.”

Rachel always knew she had an over-active
imagination, but the pictures inside her head were way too x-rated
for even a bad girl. She ignored the wave of heat hitting her face
and turned toward the stairs. “I’ll sleep in the same room that I
did last time.”

John didn’t move or say anything.

She looked over her shoulder as she walked up
the stairs. John’s heated gaze followed each step she took. Rachel
smiled. She wasn’t much of a bad girl, but it looked as though John
appreciated her efforts.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Rachel pushed the shopping cart down aisle three,
then stopped to consult her list. “How many sets of Christmas
lights do you think we need, Bella?”

Bella looked along the shelves. “Ten.”

Tank groaned from behind them. “No one needs
ten sets of lights.”

Rachel held her hand to her ear. “My
goodness, Bella. I think I heard the Christmas Grinch speaking.”
She waved her hand at the shelves. “Hand me the lights you want and
I’ll put them in the cart.”

Bella quickly chose an assortment of lights.
“What’s next?”

“Tinsel.” Rachel pushed the cart further down
the aisle, turned right and sighed at the rainbow of sparkly tinsel
lining the shelves.

“It looks cheap,” Tank said from behind
her.

Rachel raised her eyebrows. “Is this pearl of
wisdom coming from a man who wanted to buy a blow-up Santa for the
front porch?”

Tank crossed his muscly arms in front of his
chest. “He was six-foot tall and had glowing lights inside of him.
I know quality when I see it.”

“And we could have bought a matching
reindeer,” Bella said with more than a tinge of disappointment in
her voice. “He would have looked good on the porch.”

Rachel tapped her list. “Let’s focus people.
We’re here for interior decorations - and for junior ears, that
means decorations for inside the house. I don’t want to scare your
dad before he walks in the front door.”

Tank picked up a bright red packet of tinsel.
“I don’t like to burst your bubble, but he’s going to be mad
whichever way you do it.”

Rachel plucked the tinsel out of Tanks hands
and threw it in the cart. “Thank you for your vote of confidence.
We’ll have six more of those.”

“There’s ten-feet of tinsel in each packet,”
Tank said.

“You’re right. You’d better make it ten
packets.”

Bella giggled as Tank started stacking
tinsel. “This is fun. Why doesn’t dad like Christmas decorations,
Tank?”

“You’ll have to ask your dad.” He looked
around the store. “We’d better hurry if you want to put these
decorations up tonight. It’s going to take me a couple of hours to
hang everything.”

“Don’t forget the tree. I saw a ranch selling
Christmas trees on the way into town.” Rachel walked further along
the aisle and pointed to the Christmas tree decorations. “What
color do you want, Bella?”