Unbreakable Hearts (14 page)

Tilly’s eyes bugged out at her best friend as she silently admonished her for being so nosy.

“Nope, I’m not and sure don’t,” he responded to her questions, amused at the friend’s seeming lack of decorum when it came to Tilly. Nice that she had someone watching out for her who’d ask all the “dangerous” questions.

“Ever
been
married?” Quinn eyed him suspiciously eyebrows raised.

“Not even close.”

“So on this date…” she began.

“It’s not
a date!” Tilly threw out quickly, which made him chuckle.

Quinn
turned and gave Tilly a rueful look. Yep. He liked this best friend. She was a no-holds-barred type of gal who was definitely on his side. “So,” Quinn began as she kept looking at Tilly, “on this ‘not a date, date,’” she said sarcastically then looked back at Oz, “since neither of you is attached, there could be some major hanky panky then, right?”

Tilly
’s audible gasp made Oz’s shoulders shake with laughter. Oh, this Quinn chick was a riot.

“Quinn! Th
at’s enough!” Tilly looked at him, apology in her eyes while he could do nothing but continue silently laughing.

Quinn tilted her head to the side and shrugged.
“Just trying to move things along. C’mon, Till. You’re gorgeous, Mr. Hotter than Hot is a total alpha dude, I can tell,” she looked at Oz and winked, “and I can absolutely see babies in your future.”

A
t this, it was Oz’s turn to draw in a breath, but his came out more like he’d choked on something and he felt himself getting hot under the collar. Damn. Chick was vicious.

Tilly’s eyes sli
ced to her friend’s and she gave her a murderous look. She then looked back to Oz, annoyance clear on her face. “Are you ready to get away from this crazy woman?”

“I don’t know. I’
m kind of enjoying this.”

Tilly narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t you have a cab out there? It’s probably gonna cost you an arm and a leg,” she turned to Quinn with a scowl, “since we’ve been wasting time listening to this drivel.”

“And it’s been worth every penny,” Oz stated, half grin in full force.

“You kids have fun!” Quinn said
, breaking up the tension in the room. Then to Oz, “Don’t worry. Tilly’s shown me how to work the alarm system, so after you guys leave, I’ll set it up before heading back to my loft.” She turned to Tilly then, walking to her and putting her hands on her shoulders, leaning in and whispering something to her that Oz couldn’t hear. He saw Tilly nod at her friend then a look of determination covered her face. Quinn, finished with whatever secret they’d shared, pushed Tilly toward him.

“Ready?” Tilly asked
rolling her eyes at her friend’s brashness as she picked up her purse from off the bar.

“
Yes, ma’am.” He reached his hand out and took hers, leading her toward the front door. “It was nice meeting you, Quinn.” He turned back and smiled at her.

She winked at him
again. “Same here, John. You take care of our girl.”

He walked down the s
teps with Tilly then held the door of the taxi for her. Before he got in himself, he turned back to look at Tilly’s door where he saw Quinn holding back the curtain and giving him a thumbs up with a hopeful look on her face.

Well,
it was apparent that he’d won
her
over. Now if only he could make the beautiful woman he’d just helped into the cab do the same thing, his life would be pretty damned good.

Chapter 14

At
ten that night, Graham drove slowly down Tilly’s street, checking out her house to see if any lights were on. He’d driven by the night before to see if anything had been off-kilter but he’d seen nothing. Her lights had all been out and everything had seemed peaceful but he’d been reluctant to go in again so soon.

Now since he’d talked to
Alicia, he knew he had to get the laptop. And although he didn’t like doing the grunt work on this, there really was no one else he trusted. He had assistants but since Zim, someone he’d trusted for years, had turned on him and the others, he’d resurrected his old motto,
Credere et nulli
—Trust no one. His father had taught it to him when he was younger, but life had been pretty damned easy and he hadn’t needed the saying. Now he did.

As he passed the Maxwell woman
’s house, he could see a light on somewhere in the back, and he wondered if she was home. Wondered if she’d be up for some play time. He’d done some digging and found out that she was single and lived alone, and that’d made her so much more intriguing. Since he was having to waste his time in doing a low-level deed such as this, he may as well get something out of it.

In a bold move, he drove to the next street, parking two blocks away as he had two nights prior then jogged to her block. He figured that even if she happened to be home now, it’d be just like the other night. He’d go in, take her laptop and be gone unless the urge hit him for other things. He’d have to wait and see how it all played out.

He
walked across the front of her lawn, which triggered a light over her porch to come on. Fuck! He froze for a second, looking around to see if anyone was nearby then waited for any movement inside the house, but when nothing happened, he continued on around to the side. At her back door, another fucking light came on, making him pause again. She’d had motion sensors installed, the bitch. When again no one stirred inside, he went to her window and tried prying it open as he had before, but she’d replaced the lock.

“Goddamn it!” he hissed out
. He didn’t like surprises, he liked being in charge and her added security shit just pissed him off. Grabbing a handkerchief out of his pocket and wrapping it around his hand, he punched the window and broke the glass then reached up and turned the lock. After raising the window, he climbed in and waited. Several seconds later when no one came, he went to her studio, found her laptop and grabbed the fucker.

Still irritated
that she’d fixed the lock and he’d had to break the window, he felt he was owed something, so he left the room and headed to the stairway planning to make her pay. If she wasn’t there, he’d leave some kind of calling card to scare the cunt, like pull down her bedspread or something to let her know he’d been there. What he really wanted to do was ejaculate all over her bed, but modern science with its DNA bullshit kept him from that. The minute he put his foot on the bottom step, in a repeat of the first night he’d broken in, he heard a noise but this time it was police sirens.

“Goddamn it,” he mutter
ed. “She’s gotta be the luckiest fucking bitch.” Not wanting to risk finding out if the sirens were for him, he turned to leave. Going through the kitchen, he undid the several locks on the back door, slipping out then jogging around the house, triggering the lights again, which made him curse. He kept up his jog to the end of the block, but when he saw the cop car with lights flashing speeding his way, he slowed to a walk, holding the laptop underneath his arm, just someone out for an evening stroll.

Once he got in his car, out of curiosity, he drove back by her house
to see if his break-in was what had summoned the authorities, and lo and behold, three police units were there, lights blazing. He saw several officers with guns drawn moving around the house.

Well, fuck.
He hadn’t even thought to check to see if she’d invested in a security system. He chuckled as he drove by knowing he’d barely escaped. Damn. What a rush. Exactly the kind of thing he got off on.

He headed back to his office where he’
d left a thumb drive with a password cracker on it he’d gotten from one of his techs. Once there, he’d plug the thing in, get into the laptop and find the online storage provider she used for her photos then delete them all, which he believed should take care of everything which left him a little maudlin knowing the game with Ms. Maxwell would be over after that.

He called Alicia as he drove. “Need to see you,” he said when she answered.

“Baby, you come on over right now. I’ll be waiting.”

He’d pump her fo
r more information because there was still a little niggling in the back of his head that told him he was too late, that the Maxwell woman may have already sent her photos. Alicia would know the ins and outs of it all.

A thrill raced through him at the thought that if
there was any chance the picture was still out there, an up-close-and-personal visit with his little photographer was in order the next time.

***

“You were an Army Ranger?” Tilly asked, wide-eyed, looking at John over her glass.

“Yep.
Got the tatt and the scars to prove it too.”

After arriving at the restaurant, they’d been seated, ordered some fabulous wine then placed their orders and were now in the middle of their meal, learning about each other’s pasts.

Her eyes stayed fixed on him, still big, but more at her musings than at what he’d said. God, but she’d like to see that tattoo. She shivered at the thought.

The night ha
d gone perfectly so far, with John being as intriguing as she’d always thought he was. And as handsome too. God, he looked good, his broad shoulders filling out his jacket so masculinely, his jeans that fit perfectly over his muscular thighs, not to mention his nice butt, and then there was the goatee that just added to it all. He smelled wonderful too, some sort of spicy scent that she could tell wasn’t cheap. Oh, she could definitely fall for John Osby. And that scared the crap out of her.

“Scars?” she asked carefully.

He smiled.
“Yeah. Damn near had my arm blown off.”

She frowned. “Oh,
my gosh. How?”

He took a drink of his
wine but before he could continue Tilly reached across the table, putting her hand on top of his and added, “If it’s too much for you to talk about, I understand, John.”

He turned his hand
over, grasping hers in his much larger one before she could pull it away, giving it a squeeze then not letting go as he explained. “No, it’s okay. My military therapist told me it was good for me to talk about it.” He chuckled as he set down his glass then scratched at his goatee as if he was embarrassed.

Oh,
no. He was in therapy? Offffff course he was. Just her luck, she’d find him again and he’d be a mental mess.

A
s if he’d read her mind, he added, “That was years ago, Tilly. Before I got out. PTSD and all that. I’m good now.” He gave her a crooked smile that made her stomach do a flip. “Humvee hit an IED and killed two of my friends,” he said, his handsome face now growing somber as he explained. He looked at their conjoined hands for a few seconds before looking back up at her. “I don’t remember a lot about it, but the physical therapy afterward was a bitch.” He huffed out a laugh.

Oh, God.
He was so brave. And he was too much. Too good to be true. She wasn’t going to make it, she knew, as she stared at him, so perfect sitting across from her. Too perfect. He truly scared her. Or was it that she scared herself knowing she could so totally open up to him, could let him in. And that wasn’t good. Nope. Not good at all. Actually, it was very bad. So, so bad. If anyone was capable of actually getting to her, it was John Osby. And to repeat, that wasn’t good.

She knew herself well enough that when it
got to be too much she’d run. She always did. It’d just be better to end this now before she got more invested in him.

A sadness
overcame her as she looked down and saw that he was still holding her hand. With his much larger hand. Taking a drink of wine she suddenly choked on it when she pictured Quinn waggling her eyebrows and saying, “Tilly! Huge hands mean huge cocks!” Oh, lord. She pulled her hand from his and held the cloth napkin to her mouth as she coughed into it. Jeez. When she was finished, she apologized, asking him to go on. As she listened that soft spot she always had for him, which was what really made him dangerous to her, ached, making her all melty inside and she found herself looking for an escape route.

She saw him eye her
as if he knew just what she was thinking but he continued talking. “Still gives me trouble when it gets cold. I can actually tell you when a blizzard’s coming, you know. Got my own built-in barometer right here.” He chuckled and reached his left hand across his chest and patted his right shoulder.

“And what about the tattoo?” she blurted then bit her lips as she blushed like crazy. So much for escaping. Ugh.

He grinned at her, his straight, white teeth flashing beautifully at her. “I’
d show you, but we might have to be in a few compromising positions for you to see it.” His grin grew even bigger, she was sure, at the look of shock on her face.

Dear God.
Was it hot in here? And what the hell was going on with her? She should be making an excuse to leave now, telling him she had cramps or something, because every woman knew that mentioning female problems to a man made him want to gouge his eyes out with a rusty fork, and she knew he’d go to any length to avoid talking about that stuff which meant their night would be over.

Instead, her
heart rate sped up as did her breathing as she stared at his mouth. Well, damn. Screw escaping. Her focus was now on how much she wanted that gorgeous mouth of his on her. She didn’t care where. She may even have thought of a couple positions she wouldn’t mind being in with him so that he could give her a grand showing of that tattoo. She licked her lips and suddenly heard him mutter, “Jesus,” which brought her out of the spell she’d been under. She looked up to see him staring back at her, his amber eyes focused on her own lips, the look in them one that made her stomach do flips again. Wow. When his eyes flicked up to hers, she drew in a breath at the intensity in them as they blazed heatedly into hers. She felt a rush of wetness between her legs as she imagined him looking down at her with those eyes gleaming that way while he moved inside her, filling her fully as his strong body covered hers.

Oh, yeah.
John Osby was definitely dangerous, and in spite of her fear, she found herself doing something she never thought she’d do—changing her mind and letting the walls she had up around her heart crumble to the ground. God help her, but she really wanted to see just how far she’d let herself go with him.

***

Earlier, Doug had sat outside Tilly’s watching first as her bitch of a friend let herself in then when some huge guy got out of a cab and went to the door pulling out his wallet to show the friend something.

“Probably paying them
both to fuck him,” Doug mumbled, clenching his teeth as he jealously glared at the guy’s monstrously wide back.

The man had finally gone inside and Doug sat waiting, playing some inane game on his phone. Yeah, he’d lowered himself to stalking Tilly, but he had to know what she was doing since she wasn’t “doing” him.

When he saw her come outside with the guy holding his hand, he hissed out, “Fucking liar!” He
knew
she was dating someone! No way would she have broken up with him if she wasn’t seeing someone new. He banged his fist against his side window. “Should’ve given her a good horse fucking, made her know what a good fucking is before letting her off the hook. Then she’d come crawling back to me wanting more,” he muttered watching the guy being a huge pussy by holding the door for her to get inside the cab.

He’d planned to follow them, but seeing as they were dressed
up, he assumed they were going out but would be back. That’s when he’d take action and confront them both, so he stayed where he was.

A few
hours later (man, he needed to get a life), he was on his phone looking at proofs he’d taken when he saw a man walking down the sidewalk toward Tilly’s house. It was dark, but he could see the guy’s silhouette then saw him more clearly when he triggered a light above her porch to come on when he cut across her front lawn. Since when had she gotten a motion sensor?

“What the fuck?” he mumbled, watching as the man went to the side of Tilly’s house and disappeared.

Eight minutes later (he’d checked the time), the man reappeared, walking from her house and holding something under his arm. Doug got out his camera and clicked away, zooming in to take multiple pictures of him in mere seconds. The guy had already made it down the block near where Doug was parked when three police cars came zooming up and cops with guns drawn were suddenly everywhere.

“Je
sus,” Doug muttered as he watched for a bit then started his car and drove away.

He wondered what the guy had taken. Then he wondered if he might be able to gain something by identifying the man in his pictures,
either by blackmailing him or turning in the pictures to the police. Nah. He’d rather contact the guy personally and make some money off him. He’d only be helping Tilly if he gave the photos to the cops. “Fuck that bitch,” he muttered.