Cold Heat (Seasons of the Heart #1) (10 page)

Kaylie was pulling on layers of clothes
, her face cracked in a wide smile, She had spent a few years in Colorado, and she could pack and throw a mean snowball. She found herself looking very forward to getting even for that swat.

A few minutes later there was a loud banging on her door and Drake yelling over his own noise, “Hurry up, Pokey! Jenny’s waiting on us!”
At the sound of her name, Kaylie could hear Jenny’s excited barking and scampering through the house, eager to go outside and play.

Pulling the door open and grabbing his hand, she pulled him to where they had left their outer gear.

They were laughing at Kaylie’s muffled curses as she struggled to get her gloves on before Drake took her hand in his and helped work the glove over her skin. “Well, that’s great, now how are we going to get yours on?”
she asked him.

Drake gave her, what she decided was, his cocky, shit-eating grin, and Kaylie found her heart thudding in her chest.

He pulled on his gloves with ease before opening the back door for Jenny to dash through in front of them. Turning to Kaylie, he pulled the hat down further over her ears and fixed her scarf. “I’m going to move the snow around, see if I can find some of my things that were last seen on the porch. You and Jenny holler if you need anything, okay?”

“Shoo!”
Was all she said as she waved him away before bending down and picking up a handful of snow, packing it good and firm, and winged it in the opposite direction, to Jenny’s great joy. She kept playing with Jenny, throwing snowballs to her doggy delight, while keeping her eyes on Drake. When she was certain that he was focused on his shoveling and not on her, she packed an extra-large snowball and let it fly in his direction, laughing when it nailed him on the shoulder with a satisfying
thud!

Kaylie stood there, suppressing her laughter with her hands as he turned with a face splitting smile on his face “You get a count of three head start…“

That was all she heard as she turned and attempted to run through the accumulated depth of snow. She was still laughing when Drake caught her around the waist and threw her over his shoulder before dumping them both in the snow, making sure he caught the brunt of the fall.

“You cheated!”
she accused him. “You said I would get a head start!”
She scooped up a handful of snow and managed to get some under his shirts.

“Oh, now you've done it,”
he laughed,
rolling them around as he took her hands in one of his and, using his other hand, rubbed snow across her face. His laugh got louder when she squealed when the wet cold slipped under her scarf.

“Uncle! Uncle! You win!”

They were laughing at their combined antics when her eyes met his. The sound of their laugher dying out as their bodies began to warm against one another’s. Drakes gaze dropped to her parted lips while they continued to lie, as they were, neither one aware of the snow at the moment. Leaning down, he captured her lips in a kiss that was determined, passionate, and claiming. His mouth capturing the sounds of pleasure that she was making while their tongues battled before setting up a familiar and elemental tempo. Leaning back to change the angle of the kiss, he lowered his other hand down her body, aching to touch more of her. Drawing back from her again to look at her, he realized they were woefully over dressed, not to mention out in the snow, for what he had in mind.

Drake jumped up and hauled her back over his shoulder, “To the victor go the spoils,”
he announced as he landed another well-placed swat on her backside.

Kaylie just grinned, reaching enough snow to accomplish her goal, and slipped the snow under his pants. She was laughing out loud until she felt his muscles tense. Her breath caught, and her own muscles tightening in reflex, her body entering the ‘fight or flight’
state of awareness.

“Stop. Kaylie, look at me. Think about where you are, who you’re with, and what you’ve already escaped from. Don’t let him take that again.”

Kaylie heard Drakes voice and her body started to relax and shake. “Will it ever get better? Will he ever stop tormenting me? Taking away my happiness? You tensed up and it triggered a memory of what was. I’m sorry.”
She said, ashamed.

Drake called for Jenny while carefully setting Kaylie on he feet, keeping ahold of her in case she slipped. “Sweetheart, you took me by surprise, not once, but twice. My team would be laughing their asses off if they knew you’d successfully ambushed me. I must be getting soft.”
He had his arm wrapped around her waist as they stomped and shook off as much of the clinging snow as they could before stepping into the house and turning on the coffee pot.

“Let’s get warmed up. Why don't you go change into some dry clothes, and I’ll do the same? Meet back in here for some food?”

They each went into their separate bedrooms.

Chapter 15

Drake stepped out of his room a few minutes later, grabbing a couple of mugs for their coffee when he heard Kaylie’s door open. “Better?”

“Much; thanks for dragging me outside, I needed that more than I knew, and Jenny,”
she answered, spotting the dog snoring in a beam of sunlight, “seemed to enjoy herself, too.”

“
She’s easy, and you found her weakness with throwing something for her to chase. It doesn't matter if it’s a snowball, she’ll run herself stupid with the game.”

Drake set his mug on the mantle of the fireplace, stooping to add more wood to the fire, while Kaylie walked into the kitchen and began rummaging through his refrigerator and pantry for lunch when Jenny woke with a start, alternating between growling and barking as she ran to the door.

“Jenny, debout coucher.”
Stand down,
he thought
.
He could hear an engine in the distance. Walking to a table by the door, he reached under it and withdrew a pistol. “Kaylie, I need you to go to your room and stay there until I come and get you. Do you understand?”

Her eyes were wide when she saw him pull out a pistol, releasing the clip to make sure it was loaded, before snapping it back into place, the slide barrel pulled back and ready to fire; the Sig .45 looked comfortable and familiar in his palm. Doing as he asked, she turned and went into her bedroom, closing the door behind her and clicking the lock.

Drake and Jenny stepped outside, pulling the door closed behind them, his weapon arm hanging down his side, ready. The cold air barely registering as he listened for the sound, he knew that in the cold the sound would travel at a slower rate, knowing that could make all the difference on the outcome. Drake focused his attention on the approaching engine, Jenny standing by his side, stock still as she waited for the next command. It wasn’t a car or a truck; this engine had a higher pitch to its throttle, most likely a snowmobile. He wasn’t expecting anyone in this weather, he thought. Drake kept scanning in the direction that the sound seemed to be coming from, trying to pinpoint its location exactly.

Suddenly, the sound was closer, Drake’s breathing evening out as he raised his right arm, the Sig steady in his grip, cradling the butt of the gun with his left hand. The only disruption to the stillness settling around him was the puff of steam in the air as he exhaled. The sound was coming from the tree line to the left of the house, turning his body toward the sound, his muscles tensing while his breathing slowed, watching and waiting for the unknown to either open fire or emerge from the trees. Drake let out his breath and began relaxing as he recognized the snowmobile. Engaging the safety, he tucked the gun at the small of his back before jumping off the porch and glaring at the man behind the helmet, waiting for him to shut the machine off.

Rafe unsnapped his helmet and jerked it off his head as the engine underneath him quieted. “Damn it, Drake! That favor you asked of me? Do you have you any fucking idea what I’m finding? That tango you asked me to dig into has some curious partners,”
he exclaimed as he climbed off the snowmobile. “I called up a friend of mine with the FBI when I followed a few hidden threads that led me to Vegas. The Feds have been watching him for a while now, suspecting him of having ties with the cartel and trafficking drugs into the US and up to Vegas. It seems your girl in there froze the investigations when she filed assault charges on him. He’d been able to keep himself away from anything incriminating until he landed behind bars.”

Drake walked over to where Rafe was, the two men hesitant to let Kaylie overhear everything they were talking about until Drake had a better idea of how to handle it. “What do you mean, ‘until he landed behind bars
?’
”

“From what my friend would tell me, it seems they monitored visits between Peterson and a, Manuel Acosta, and this Acosta is some sort of a mid-level player in the cartel. I’m still checking on the incoming calls to her phone, but I’d bet my left nut they’re from this Acosta.”

Running his hand thru his hair, Drake turned and started walking toward the house. “Fuck. Come on in, man, it’s too damn cold out here and she needs to hear this.”

“Capt’n. Drake, you may want to call in some of the others on this. You know they’ll be here if you need it.”

“I don’t think it’s got to that point, do you? Or is there more you’re not telling me?”

“He’s getting out today, served his time and being released by the state except for parole. If he’s in as deep with this cartel as I’m starting to think he is, you may want some extra eyes and guns nearby.”

Drake nodded his head as he and Rafe walked inside the house, Jenny running to sit in front of Kaylie’s door. He stroked Jenny’s head before knocking on Kaylie’s door. “Kaylie, come on out now. It’s okay.”
He heard the door unlock before she opened it.

“What was that about, Drake? Why did you have me hide in my room?”

“I wasn’t expecting anyone, and out here, when someone shows up unexpectedly at my door, my training kicks in. That’s just something you’ll have to get used to. Right now, though,”
he was saying as they walked into the kitchen, “I want you to come meet Rafe Piñon. Rafe, this is Kaylie Blake.”

Kaylie was watching Drake and Rafe while they were all standing together, noticing a sense of unity and brotherhood, which she had only heard and read about. Rafe was just a couple of inches taller than she was; he had a cocky half smile, half smirk on his face. His dark brown eyes taking her in. “It’s nice to meet you,”
she said as she stuck her hand out for Rafe. “Thank you for helping with this mess that I seemed to have brought and dropped at Drakes door.”

Rafe stuck his hand out to shake Kaylie’s, taking in the bruising and the lump on her forehead. His voice was cool when he spoke, “Nice to meet you, too. Sorry if I worried you when I showed up, but I have information that I thought would be better face to face instead of over the phone.”

Kaylie’s eyes flicked over to Drakes face, watching for any sign of change in his expression, an expression that was all business right now. Withdrawing her hand from Rafe’s, she looked back at him, meeting and holding his gaze while she prepared herself for what he had to say.

Drake watched, as Kaylie stood strong in front of Rafe. The woman has more steel in her than she knows, he thought to himself. Whatever that bastard Brian had done to her, Drake knew he was witnessing her rebuilding herself, but he knew she’d do better if she had something to keep her hands busy while she listened, asked questions, and processed what they’d tell her.

“Rafe, we were getting ready to fix lunch, you want to join us?”

Rafe caught the meaning in Drake’s words, “Only if you’re not cooking.”
He said as he walked over to the cabinet, finding himself a mug and poured himself a cup of coffee.

“I’ll cook,”
Kaylie spoke without giving Drake a chance to answer. “I saw some stuff that I can throw together while we talk.”

Rafe watched her for a minute while she made herself at home in Drake’s kitchen. He wasn’t sure what to think about this mystery woman who fell into Drakes life. He felt Drakes eyes on him before turning back to Drake for the nod to go ahead and let her in on what he knew.

“
Kaylie, before Rafe starts, you need to know that Brian
is being released today.”
Both men were watching her while Drake to
ld her this, one with concern, the other curious about her reaction to this first bit of news.

Kaylie froze for a second at Drakes news, her body tensing, her breath catching and holding, her hands clenching the countertop where she had laid the ingredients she had pulled out. The news was swift, painful only for a minute as she let her head drop down before forcing her muscles to relax, reminding herself to breathe. She had survived, she reminded herself, and gotten away before he could find her. She would be on the move again as soon as she could get her car fixed. “There’s more, isn’t there? Rafe wouldn’t have come over here when he could just have easily called.”
She turned and looked at the two men. “What else aren’t you telling me?”