Concealed (13 page)

“That’s my fault, honey,” Wade said softly hoping if he kept his voice quiet, she would follow suit. “I wanted to surprise your mommy, but I think I scared her instead.”

“Oh, okay.” She settled into Sydney’s arms and put her head on her shoulder.

Wade had to get the two of them someplace safe so he could check the rest of the house. There was a noise upstairs that made them spring into action.

“Let’s play a game,” Sydney said quickly, picking up Faith and moving away from the stairs. “How about hide and go seek? Faith, let’s hide and Wade will come find us.” He could see there were tears in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She had her daughter to think about. “And we have to be quiet because Wade is very good at this game.”

Oblivious to the fact she was soaking wet and in a towel or that their lives were in danger, Faith’s head bobbed up and down, then she pointed a finger in his face. “Count to twenty before you come looking,” she said in a stern voice as she wiggled out of Sydney’s arms, but her mother kept a death grip on her wrist.

Sydney made it look like she was casually hugging Wade but her body was taut with fear. “You cleared the downstairs, right?” Wade gave a curt nod. “We’ll be in the bathroom. The door is solid oak with a deadbolt. The window is glass block so we’ll be fine.” As Wade turned to leave she grabbed his arm. “Be careful.” Again he nodded but she held him in place a second longer. “When things are clear, you need to identify yourself and say ‘zyxt’ or we’re not coming out.”

There wasn’t time to ask all the questions that came to mind from that exchange, so he simply touched her cheek because he needed to reassure her in some small way, and then he leaned back against the wall and gave the appearance of closing his eyes as he started counting softly. All that mattered was their safety. There was a rustle of noise and then they were gone. He waited until he heard the click of the deadbolt sliding shut before he drew his gun and headed upstairs.

There was a trail of little wet footprints along the stairs and down the hall from the bathroom. There were four doors in all upstairs, limiting the options for the intruder. Wade carefully entered the first door, which was Faith’s room. The tiny double mattress sat on the floor, the pink bedspread neatly made. The floor was covered with all the dolls he had watched her play with earlier. The only area that a man could conceal himself would be her closet so Wade slowly approached, ready for anything. He opened the door, pointing his gun inside but there was nothing more than clothes and a tiny pile of shoes.

From Faith’s room, his next stop was the bathroom, the mirror still fogged over from Faith’s bath. With just two doors left, he knew it was only a matter of time before there was a confrontation with the intruder. He tightened his grip on his gun, ready to extinguish the threat.

As he nudged the door to the next room open, he knew it was Sydney’s bedroom. He could smell her in the air. It was neat and tidy with little to mark it as hers except for that scent unique to her. He’d know it anywhere, the way his body responded to it. With all the times he had imagined himself in her bedroom, it was never with a gun drawn. That sobered his thoughts and brought him back to the task at hand. He had just cleared her room when he heard footsteps on the stairs followed by a loud crash from downstairs.

Wade took off down the hall, taking the stairs two at a time. Sydney and Faith were still silent which was good because it allowed him to follow the smallest of noises. He slowly crept into the living room and he was immediately hit by a cool breeze. The middle window sash was thrown open wide, the curtains dragged through to the outside where the intruder had made his escape. Wade stepped around the overturned coffee table and looked out the window. There was no sound except for the distant barking of a neighbor’s dog.

Out of habit, Wade grabbed a towel from the kitchen and used it to close and lock the window, then he went and quickly searched the house again to make sure the man was gone. Only after he cleared the house was he willing to bring Sydney and Faith out of the bathroom. He went to the door and gave it a sharp tap. There was no reaction from the other side.

“It’s Wade, Sydney.” Still no sound. “Zyxt.” At the mention of their safe-word Faith let out a squeal.

“You found us!” The little girl hurled herself into Wade’s arms. “That took you a long time. We were really quiet.” Behind her, a visibly shaken Sydney stood up and collapsed against his side. He wrapped his free arm around her shoulders and held her close. He needed the contact more than he wanted to admit.

“Why don’t you go get a snack in the kitchen?” He let Faith down and watched her run off, unaware of the danger she had been in. “Zyxt?”

Sydney gave a half-hearted smile. “Agnes’ suggestion. It’s the last word in the dictionary.” A shudder went through her body. “What the hell just happened?” Sydney asked as Wade wrapped both his arms around her, nearly crushing her.

He didn’t want to share the whole truth about how and why he was there, so he edited. “I wanted to talk to you, and as I approached the house, I noticed the side door was ajar. I saw a shadow of a hooded man passed in front of the window downstairs while you were upstairs.” Her face paled. “I thought maybe you had company until I saw the sensors from the security system tampered with and the side door wedged. I think you know the rest.”

“D-Did you see him?” Her voice trembled. “The guy. Did you get a good look at him?”

Wade shook his head. “He went out the window.”

“What am I going to do?” she mumbled to herself, but Wade decided to offer a solution.

“How about you tell me what’s going on?”

Her brown eyes were full of fear and he could tell she wanted to tell him, but she didn’t trust him enough to do it. Instead she shook her head and moved away from him. “I need to go check on Faith.”

Wade didn’t bother to hide his displeasure. In a rougher voice than he intended he said, “The bastard knocked over the coffee table so I’m going to run out to my car and grab an evidence kit. I’ll see if he left any prints on that or your window then I’ll be out of your hair.”

Sydney reached for him but he moved faster. “Wade, wait.”

“Go check on Faith,” he said as he walked out the door. The walk back to the car was good because it gave him time to clear his head. He was angry at Sydney, scared for Sydney, and tired of thinking about Sydney, period. But he had a job to do. From the trunk he grabbed his evidence kit. Before he went back to the house, he stuck his head into the front seat to grab his clipboard when he stopped short and a string of vile curses flew from his mouth.

From his evidence kit he grabbed a pair of gloves and a plastic bag. He carefully opened the door and reached to the passenger’s seat where he picked up the edge of a piece of paper. Once it was inside the bag and sealed, he stripped the gloves and tossed them onto the ground.

Inside the evidence bag was a picture of Sydney at the diner, her throat with a large red slash across it.

MORNING CAME FAR TOO
soon. Or maybe Sydney had been up far too late. Either way, the sun was up with all its blinding brilliance and it meant she had to get out of bed and face the day. And her troubles. The urge to bury her head under the pillow was overwhelming until she remembered she still had a visitor camped out downstairs. In the morning light, her curiosity got the better of her and she crept downstairs.

With one eye open she made her way into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee. She couldn’t believe it was already seven. Last night, when Wade came back to the house and showed her the picture, she had crumbled onto the couch and cried. Amazingly, Wade said nothing, and simply took charge as he always did. He scooped Faith up in his arms and somehow managed to get her to sleep, which was impressive. She had countless excuses to stay up if something was going on she was interested in. Sheriff Jenkins in the house was big time excitement, by Ross standards. She shouldn’t have been able to sleep for weeks, but Wade had her dreaming peacefully in record time.

Overachiever.

The temptation to see him called to her as the coffee pot began to brew. Knowing he was only a few feet away was killing her. Sydney tried to fight the urge, but the gentle snores she heard coming from the living room were too much to resist. Before she could stop herself, she was standing in the doorway. From there, she could take her time and observe him.

There were no words to explain how uncomfortable the poor man looked, sprawled across her couch in the early morning light. His arms dangled off the cushions as his subconscious searched for more room. His massive body easily swallowed up the length of the secondhand couch. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, maybe it was her overactive libido. Either way, she found it incredibly sexy to see him like that.

Most men would have run for their lives with the hysterics last night promised. Others would have stormed off the second she wouldn’t tell them anything more than, “it’s a long story.” But Wade had patiently waited until the tears had passed. After Faith was asleep, he called one of his deputies over to take the evidence in and start the paperwork on the break in. The one thing he didn’t do the entire night was leave her side.

Sydney’s last memory before she fell asleep was sitting on the couch and mumbling that she didn’t want any of this to hurt Faith. That she had to protect her. From there, he must have carried her upstairs, her exhaustion so deep that she didn’t even wake up during the move. It was a kindness she didn’t deserve from him after all the half-truths she had told him. She felt guilty about it, but she also felt herself falling more for him, which was dangerous for both of them.

“You need a new couch, Sydney.” Wade opened one eye and winced as he sat up.

Sweet Jesus, he’s shirtless,
she gasped in her head as she clutched the door jamb for support. The light dusting of hair trailing down his chest had her mouthwatering. Especially where it dipped beneath the waistband of his well-worn jeans. The man looked like sex and sin in the morning. Sydney clenched her jaw to keep it from gaping open as she continued to ogle him as he stood.

Oblivious to her dirty-minded thoughts, he arched his back and stretched his sore muscles. “Where’d you get this thing, a toy store?”

She had been able to form words seconds earlier, but now, with a gorgeous, shirtless man in front of her, she was reduced to a ball of Jell-O.

“You okay?” he asked, taking a step in her direction. Sydney’s hand flew out to stop him from coming any closer. If he did, she couldn’t be held accountable for her actions.

“I need a shirt. I mean coffee. I need coffee,
you
need a shirt. Don’t get me wrong you look fine without it, but...” His lack of a reaction made her temper flare. “Oh, just put on a shirt.”

“Who has to put a shirt on?” Faith peeked around from behind Sydney scaring her half to death.

“Sheriff Jenkins, honey.” Sydney picked her daughter up and carried her toward the kitchen to give Wade some privacy, which of course he didn’t take. He grabbed his shirt off the back of the couch and followed them. Half naked.

“What’s he doing here?” The little girl craned her neck toward the living room. “Is that my old blanket?”

Sydney looked to Wade for some help but he just busied himself slipping the tight fitting T-shirt back over his head. The sight of his muscles flexing completely distracted her and made her bump into a kitchen chair.

“Mommy?”

“Crap. Sorry, yes, it’s yours. Sheriff Jenkins borrowed it. He slept here last night.”

Her brow furrowed. “He slept in your bed with you? Isn’t that how babies are made? Am I gonna be a big sister?”

“Faith Ross!” Sydney felt her face heat up and flush with color. If it was possible to die from embarrassment, Sydney was going to find out. “No, no, and no! Where on earth did you hear that?” Sydney asked as she pulled a box of cereal out of the pantry.

“Anna Jacobs. She told me all about making babies.”

“I-I don’t even know what to say.” She looked to Wade for help, but he was doing his best not to laugh. “I swear I’m going to home school her.”

“I get to do school at home today? Cool.”

“No, you need to eat breakfast and then get dressed for school.”

None of this awkward conversation seemed to faze Wade or Faith. The two of them moved around the kitchen like they were talking about the weather while Sydney felt like she was on the verge of a panic attack. Faith couldn’t reach a bowl, so Wade picked her up and stood her on the counter. Once she had the biggest mixing bowl she could find in her hand, she tapped him on the head and he returned her to the floor.

Sydney busied herself by grabbing the eggs, cheese and some ham from the refrigerator to make omelets. She knew what Wade liked for breakfast and figured after he spent the whole night crammed on her couch to watch over her and Faith, the least she could do was give him a decent breakfast.

As she moved around the kitchen, she could feel Wade’s eyes on her. Any time she snuck a peek his direction, he was giving her a long, lingering look that made her skin feel hot. There was something so sensual about the way he looked at her that she could almost feel his hands on her. She stuck her head into the refrigerator to cool off when Faith called her.

“Can you get us the milk?”

“Sure, I—” Sydney stopped short. On the table between Wade and Sydney was a large mixing bowl that Faith had filled, pieces of cereal spilling over onto the table. Faith held her hands out and wiggled her fingers toward the gallon of milk in Sydney’s hand.

“Gimme the milk.”

“What in the world is that?” Sydney motioned to the enormous mountain of bran flakes.

Faith waved a finger between herself and Wade. “We’re gonna share. He’s big, so I made a big bowl of cereal.”

“You know I’m making eggs, too. Right?”

“I like eggs,” Wade said with a wolfish smile.

“Me too,” chimed his newest admirer. There was something adorable about the way Faith had taken to him overnight. She climbed into Wade’s lap and made herself at home. Not once did he protest or seem uncomfortable. “Want to share some of Mommy’s eggs?”

“Sure, princess. I’d like that.”

The two of them dug into their trough of cereal, Wade doing his part to eat as much as possible so Faith wouldn’t get in trouble, if Sydney had to wager a guess. Faith chattered on and on about school and what she liked to do. When Sydney slid the eggs in front of them, Faith was busy trying to convince Wade to come in as her special guest next time she had show and tell.

“Thank you.” The deep rumble of his voice washed over her. It was so strange having a man share the table with them, but with Wade it was much more comfortable than she would have expected. He dug into the eggs, still hungry even after all the cereal he had stuffed himself with.

Sydney shrugged. “They’re not as good as Pete’s, but they’ll do.”

She leaned back against the counter and took a breath. Having a man spend the night was a completely foreign thing to her, but Sydney had to admit, his presence allowed her to close her eyes and get some rest. Watching the interaction between him and Faith had distracted her for a while, but the events of last night were a clear warning, Sydney could feel it in her gut. Nothing that happened to her over the last few years was an innocent coincidence. Each marked when it was time for her to pick up Faith and move on to the next city and now, things were escalating way too fast. He’d
never
gotten this close before. They had stayed too long.

This time it was going to be harder to leave. Elton
felt
different and so did Sydney for the few short months she and Faith had spent there. It was going to hurt to leave, and the man sitting at her kitchen table was a big reason why.

Over the next ten minutes, Faith filled in Wade about her upcoming birthday party and ran around the house showing him everything from the decorations to a picture of the cake Sydney was going to make. She even badgered him until he agreed to come. Wade was attentive to the little girl, but it was hard not to be when she was climbing all over him. Sydney had never seen her be so animated with a man, and Wade had this tender smile when he spoke to Faith that further melted Sydney’s heart. If he just would have been put off by the shared cereal, or the climbing, or her daughter’s incessant talking it would have been easy to ignore her feelings for him, but now, with him genuinely appearing to enjoy breakfast with a rambunctious five-year-old, she knew she was a goner.

“You better go get changed,” Sydney said as she collected the plates from the table. “Your clothes are on your dresser.”

“Okay.” Faith spun around and placed a big kiss on Wade’s cheek, startling him. “Will you come visit us again? I want to play more hide and go seek. You didn’t get a chance to hide yet.”

Wade glanced at Sydney, so she kept her expression neutral. “You bet, princess. You and your mommy still owe me some pie, as I recall.”

“Oh, that’s right! Mom, we need to make Wade his pie.”

“Wade?” Sydney asked, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise. She was shocked to see Wade’s cheeks turn red.

Ever the drama queen, Faith rolled her eyes. “Yeah, Mom. That’s his name!” The laughing little girl ran as fast as her feet would take her out of the kitchen and up to her room.

Sydney busied herself at the sink. “I’m sorry. She’s not usually so lively in the morning. I think she was just excited to have company this early in the day.”

“She’s fantastic.” Sydney nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt his hand settle on her hip. He was so close his chest brushed against her back as he reached around her and placed two forks into the sink. She was hyper aware of his presence, and that was dangerous. Slowly she turned to face him, her eyes locking on his lips.

“Thanks. She’s a lot of fun.”

They stood there awkwardly until Wade mumbled a curse then dipped his head and captured her lips with his. Sydney clutched the countertop behind her to keep from wrapping herself around him and never letting go. The kiss was quick, and gentle, and exactly what Sydney had been thinking about doing since she saw him on the couch. It was as if he read her mind.

“Thanks for breakfast,” he said, stepping back to give them both some breathing room. He picked up the coffee pot and refilled his cup. “You know we need to talk about what happened.”

It was the conversation she had been equal parts dreading and avoiding. She hated lying to him after all he had done for her. It just didn’t sit right with her anymore. So instead she decided to avoid every question with the hope he’d get annoyed and leave. Annoyed, she could deal with, but an interrogation would be more than she could handle. Unfortunately he was like a dog with a bone and wouldn’t let it go.

“Now that you’ve slept on it, is there anything else you can tell me that might help me figure out who was here last night?” There was no beating around the bush with him, no games. Wade was as direct as they came. If he had a question, he’d ask. And now that they were both caffeinated, it was game on.

The cat and the mouse.

“I’m not sure.”

Wade dug his heels in. “That’s not what you said last night. You said it was a long story.”

“I was upset.” She turned her back to him and started loading their dishes into the sink. If things weren’t so dire, she’d think it was funny how their roles had reversed, with Wade talking all the time and her being the one with the short answers.