Knock Out (A Reynolds Security Novel) (5 page)

“
Damn you’re punchy when there is no food in you.”

“
You should see me when there is no food and some alcohol in me.”

“
Sounds like fun for another day.” She turned into him and looked up at him.

“
Why do you keep coming back to the gym?”

“
Again with the hard questions.” He looked into her deep brown eyes in the semi-light of the street lamp and knew he was sunk. “Maybe I like the company.”

“
I bet you have no trouble getting girls. Why do you want to chase after one as screwed up as me?”

“
You think I am chasing after you?”

“
I am too screwed up for a relationship. I am damaged in all the ways a girl can be damaged. I have terrible mood swings. I am far too blunt. I have a horrible temper that causes me to do and say things that I regret almost immediately. Then I feel guilty. I like onions on my pizza. I don’t have a TV but if I did I wouldn’t share the remote. My bathroom is always a mess. I sleep with the light on. I don’t wear makeup. I don’t own a pair of high heels. All my underwear is plain white cotton.” He finally put his finger over lips silencing her. He traced his finger lightly over the edge of her lower lip.

“
You are also beautiful, and strong, and funny, and smart, and you laugh at my dumb jokes. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested but I know you don’t want a relationship. That whatever this is between us is complicated. I think we should just take this one day at a time.”

She was still pressed against him, so close she could feel his body heat and smell the lingering spicy masculine scent of his cologne. He was huge at this distance at least a foot taller with arms that could encompass her twice. And she had never wanted anyone more.

“I think you should kiss me.” She whispered looking up at him. Apparently he did too because he bent his head and pressed his lips to hers. Her stomach jumped with a jolt and warmth surged through her. She pressed up on to her toes locking their mouths together. One of his arms tightened around her waist while his other hand cupped her jaw his fingertips brushing the nape of her neck and sending a jolt of pleasure straight to her loins. She had never been so turned on. She had wondered if she even had the ability to be turned on anymore. This certainly answered her question. She was ready to wrap her legs around him and shimmy up him like a pole. When he broke the kiss she wanted to protest to pull him back again. She refrained, barely.

“
Let’s skip dinner.” She whispered breathless.

“
That is the best idea I’ve ever heard.” She could feel him pulling himself together. His heart was hammering in his chest. It was strangely gratifying that she could cause that.

“
Too bad we can’t.” He pulled away enough for there to be airflow between them. Disappointment rushed through her swift and stinging and with it came a surge of temper.

“
Why not.”

“
Because you’re not quite yourself. You need to eat.”

“
It’s only been fourteen hours. I am not exactly delirious from starvation.”

“
Humor me.” He pulled her against his side and began walking again. She was still annoyed, just not quite annoyed enough to push him away. They entered Ruby’s and sat in the same booth as last time. She ordered her usual and he copied it only adding bacon. When the waitress left she felt the weight of embarrassment settle on her shoulders. She was ready to jump him in the street with cars driving past. What was wrong with her? He had to be thinking she was easy, she had just gotten done telling him she didn’t do relationships and then she had pretty much made it clear she was willing to sleep with him without the relationship. She concentrated very hard to keep her embarrassment from showing.

“
Did you call your mother?”

“
Excuse me?”

“
Yesterday you said you’d been meaning to call her.”

“
Oh, no I still haven’t called.”

“
Why not?” He shrugged and then stretched his arm out on the back of the booth. It was a comfortable gesture that made her stomach do a crazy flutter.

“
She tends to talk for a while so I try to make sure I have time to talk when I call.”

“
Maybe if you called more often she wouldn’t talk so much.” He laughed at that.

“
She is a southern woman. They talk… a lot… about anything.”

“
I guess it runs in the family.” She smirked and he laughed.

“
I guess it does.” The truth was he really never talked as much to anyone else as he did to her. There was just something about her that made him want to keep talking. Or really keep her talking.

“
Tell me about her.” Nothing like talking about one’s mother to cool the libido, he thought but he did it anyway.

“
Have you ever seen Steel Magnolias?” She shook her head. “Fried Green Tomatoes?” Again she shook her head. “How ‘bout the Divine secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood?”

“
I may have see that one, it has Sandra Bullock in it right? You make a lot movie references.”

“
They are all set around southern women and well… surprisingly accurate.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
I don’t know. It’s hard to explain. My mother and sisters are… nice and proper good southern God fearing women. When my mother calls she always asks me if I’ve been going to church. She knows I only go when I am home to visit her but she asks anyway. It is her duty to remind me that I should be there every Sunday.”

“
I see.”

“
Does it bother you?”

“
Not really, it’s not like I get a lecture or anything. I love my mother, she is great and she is a good listener. That is her job after all but sometimes I feel like I just can’t meet her standards for me.” The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of their food and he was grateful. Somehow he had said a lot more than he intended. Lou was a good listener too. He watched as she slathered ketchup over her fries and smiled. Yeah he would be more than willing to stock ketchup in his fridge for her.

“
So what your partner said today was interesting.”

“
What’s that?”

“
He said something about the idea for the company.”

“
Oh that.” Jace hesitated, not sure how to tell the story not sure he really wanted to. In the end he just dove in.

“
We were in Iraq. Our mission was to escort some high level Iraqi security officials out of the city and back to the base. It was all a setup. The officials were part of the insurgency. We were ambushed as soon as we reached the rendezvous point.” His tone had gone cold as if he were relating something that had happened far away, not something that happened to him. She recognized the coping mechanism.

“
There was a fire fight. A couple guys were wounded. We hunkered down and waited for backup but it was a hot zone on a real bad day. Before help could get there they blew the building right down on top of us.” Lou gasped and reached across the table to squeeze his hand. She had done a rotation through Iraq but it hadn’t been like that.

“
How did you get out?”

“
By some miracle we were sitting against a supporting wall and it stayed partially standing. Several of us were trapped in this little pocket of space with a ton of rubble on top of us. It felt an awful lot like being buried alive.” He cleared his throat awkwardly. “Ethan had been shot and was bleeding all over the place. Another guy had his leg pinned. A few were outside the pocket and we lost them.” Lou stayed silent rubbing her thumb over the back of his hand where it was clenched on the table. She could see the memories playing in his eyes. “It took them about eighteen hours to dig us out. If it wasn’t for the fact that our comm. equipment still worked they probably wouldn’t have got to us in time. Darren lost the lower half of his leg. Ethan lost his spleen. It was a bad day.” He smirked at the understatement. She smiled a soft smile.

“
I’m sorry, I didn’t realize it was a bad story.”

“
It’s all right. I have told it enough times. My mother says repressing memories is what gives them power. Makes them mold, is what she says.” He chuckled. “She says ‘You gotta get them out in the sun where they can dry up’. She is a counselor, works with a lot of kids if you couldn’t have guessed.” He grinned and she smiled back.

The rest of the meal passed in lighter conversation. At some point during the time she had become glad that he had insisted that they eat. She still wanted him but now the voice of reason had returned. She
wasn’t ready and even if she wanted to be she didn’t want to lead him on. Neither did she want to potentially ruin the friendship growing between them. The fact was she was confused. She really didn’t know what she wanted and she couldn’t let her hormones make the decision for her.

When they were leaving he stepped close to her and she knew he was going to kiss her. She really wanted him to and yet she knew he would decimate her resolve. She dodged him and pressed her cheek to his. He still smelled good.

“Thank you.” She whispered assuming he would know she was talking about more than the meal. She pressed a kiss to his lightly stubbled cheek and backed away.

“
Sure.” He said and smiled down at her. “You know funny thing about magnets, you can keep them apart but it doesn’t stop the pull. Eventually they come together.” Her smile blossomed into a full grin and she turned and walked up the sidewalk.

“
Hey Lou,” he called, she turned around walking backward. “I like onions on my pizza.”

“
And pepperoni?”

“
Definitely.”

“
Great, let’s do that next time.”

“
We could do that for breakfast,” he called and she laughed.

“
You had your chance.” She laughed and kept walking.

Chapter 7

Lou stared at the credit card for a full minute before she picked up her cell phone.

“Is it true what they say about gay guys having more style than straight guys?”

“
I would like to think that my sense of style is not related to my sexual preference.” Replied the sleepy voice on the other end.

“
Oh no did I wake you?”

“
Just a little bit,” he said and yawned. She heard a muffled voice and grimaced.

“
Oh God I woke you and you’re not alone. I am so sorry I’ll hang up now.”

“
Ah no worries hun, I am awake. What do you need my sense of style for?” She sighed resigned to feel bad for waking him.

“
I need help. I have nothing that this party is going to require. I am not even sure I know what this party is going to require.”

“
Shopping on the corporate credit card. I am so there!” He laughed. “I’ll pick you up in twenty.”

True to his word Colby was there in less than twenty minutes. He had driven her home once so she
didn’t have to bother with directions.

“
I have to get a tux. That will be quick and easy so we’ll do that first.”

The tailor they had been referred to was right on Second Street and really easy to find. The man measured Colby then fitted him and marked the tux. He promised to have the alterations done in two hours so they left and headed up the road.

“I am nervous,” she said as they approached a very intimidating looking boutique.

“
Why?”

“
Because I have never done this before, and I am having Pretty Woman flash backs where they are so mean to her.”

“
Just show them the credit card. That worked for Julia Roberts.” Lou had to laugh at that.

She was thankful to have Colby with her in the store as she browsed it made her feel less conspicuous.

“What about this?” She held up a pale yellow sun dress. She told herself it was not because yellow was Jace’s favorite color.

“
That is a sun dress.”

“
So.”

“
So, what you need is an evening gown.”

“
All right, where are the evening gowns?”

“
Follow me.” He led her through the store to a display of glamorous dresses that she would have thought were prom dresses. She giggled and Colby cast her a look.

“
What?”

“
They look like prom dresses.”

“
Did you go to prom?”

“
No.” Lou frowned. Juan thought it was lame he didn’t understand why she wanted to go. They had fought and ultimately broken up over it. Someone else had asked her but she didn’t feel right about going with anyone else so she stayed home, alone.

“
The bastard?” Colby asked catching the look.

“
Yes.”

“
Well my dear, tonight shall be your official prom and I will be your prom date. So I expect you to put out after.” If it were anyone else she might have been offended but it was Colby so she just laughed.

“
I will if you will.” He grinned and started flipping through the gowns.

“
This one.” He held up a red gown that was so short it looked like a shirt.

“
No, too short.”

“
Come on, you’ve got great legs I can tell.” He looked at her legs as if he could see them through her jeans and she rolled her eyes. “Fine.” He sighed and kept looking. After a few minutes he ushered her into a fitting room and followed her in. She looked at him and put her hands on her hips.

“
I don’t care what your sexual preference is. You are not helping me dress.” Again he sighed but he left the fitting room.

“
The blue one first.” He called from outside. She squirmed and shimmied trying to get the thing on until she heard another voice outside the curtain.

“
Can I help?”

She pulled back the curtain just enough to see the store clerk. She was an older woman with laugh lines around her eyes. Lou sighed and let the woman in so that she could help her with the gown. Once she had the gown on she grimaced at the mirror. The gown was strapless and the bra was not. She could tell it was the first thing Colby noticed as well. He smirked.

“I know,” She crossed her arms. “If I get this one I will wear a strapless bra.”

“
What size are you?”

“
You do not need to pick out my underwear.”

“
Apparently I do. What is that cotton? You show that to Mr. X?”

“
Who?”

“
You know the guy you’re hot for.” Lou didn’t bother arguing that she wasn’t hot for him. “I didn’t see you after class yesterday. Did you have a date?”

“
I told you we’re just friends.”

“
Did you get lucky?”

“
No that was you!” She laughed.

“
Why are you blushing Loulabelle?”

“
Loulabelle?” She laughed

“
Come on spill.”

“
All right, we kissed.”

“
Kissed?”

“
Yes, one earth shaking, toe curling, panty soaking kiss. Are you happy now?”

“
Thrilled,” he grinned. “Are you going to sleep with him?”

“
No! Now can we please talk about something else?” 

“
Bra size?”

“
34 C.” She sighed deciding that was the less embarrassing question.

She tried on several more gowns. Colby brought her underwear to try on as well. She hated to admit it, and never would to Colby, but the silk stockings and garters and black lace underwear made her feel sexy. Finally she found a gown that gained Colby
’s immediate approval. It was a black sheath floor length gown with a low back and a split up to the thigh.

“
That’s it. It’s perfect, you are gorgeous.”

Colby went on to completely outfit her. He found shoes. He even took her to a friend of his at a salon that did her hair and makeup.

“I feel like I am your Barbie doll.” Colby laughed at that.

“
My father wasn’t progressive enough to let me have a Barbie. Maybe that was the problem.” Colby laughed.

“
You know my father never gave me a Barbie either.” Lou laughed with him.