Only Her (A K2 Team Novel) (3 page)

Arthur had been the catalyst for giving a lost girl the idea of becoming a veterinarian. Having bounced from foster home to foster home, living with strangers who didn’t really want her, she had befriended their pets. Arthur was the only one that had actually belonged to her, a gift from her last foster mother. He had entered her life during a time she thought of as her Dark Days. Even though a cat, he had been her friend and confidant when she’d needed one the most.

When, as a kitten, he’d refused to eat, she’d checked out books from the library on the care of felines. Those first books had led to more complicated ones, and soon she was devouring any animal books she could get her hands on, including medical textbooks.

“You’re my sweet boy, aren’t you?” She scratched under his chin, causing him to purr. Yeah, life was pretty good these days, even if lacking in the sex department.

The bills paid, she tossed her empty bottle into the recycling bin. While she’d been busy with the paperwork, she’d managed to put the latest poisoned animal out of her mind, this time a dog. With the first one, she’d assumed it had gotten into someone’s garbage or maybe some spilled pool chlorine. The second one had worried her. The third one had alarmed her, but apparently not the police since they hadn’t followed up after she’d reported her concerns. Someone in the neighborhood was intentionally killing pets. She’d begun questioning the owners, but so far, she hadn’t been able to find a connection. As she’d cried with the distraught owners, she had vowed that she would find the person responsible.

What she needed was to clear her head, and a good, sweaty run would do the trick. She tried to run two or three times a week, usually in the early morning before work, but had let herself get lazy the last few days. Since it was dark out and she wasn’t stupid, she would just run up and down the sidewalk in front of her house under the streetlights.

After changing into running clothes, she headed out. She checked her Fitbit, noting the steps she’d taken so far that day. Three thousand more, she decided, clipping the device onto the waist of her shorts.

On the fifth pass by her house, she heard a car coming up the street at the same time she noticed Mystery Man on his lawn, tossing balls to his dogs. She subtly eyed him as she ran past, a thrill coursing through her at seeing him blatantly watching her.

The car’s engine revved as it sped up, and Riley considered yelling at the driver to slow down, that there were children and animals living on the block. Better not to, though. Too many crazies behind the wheels of cars these days.

At the very moment she heard the auto’s tires bump over the sidewalk, she was tackled from behind by a pair of strong arms, pulled back against a rock-hard body, and rolled across her lawn until finally being pulled behind a magnolia tree.

Acting on instinct, she bit down on the arm holding her. When the man swore and let go, she twisted and brought up her knee, aiming for his junk like she’d been taught in her self-defense class.

“Easy, darlin’,” the man said, catching her leg and holding it with a strength she couldn’t match. “I’m rather fond of that part.”

Heart pounding as if she’d run a marathon, she looked into the caramel-colored eyes of her mystery man. He let her go, and she scooted away. As she became aware of her surroundings, she heard the squeal of tires as the car raced away. The man’s dogs were furiously barking, and she glanced across the street to see them running back and forth along the edge of the sidewalk.

“What the hell’s wrong with you?” she yelled.

The blasted man rolled onto his back and laughed. “Now there’s a question.”

“Are you crazy?” Great, her new neighbor was a wacko. He lifted onto an elbow, and she couldn’t help but notice how the muscles in his arm flexed. And then he smiled, showing off a dimple on the right side of his cheek, which made her stomach twitchy. Okay, he was a hot wacko.

“You keep asking me that,” he said. “Same answer as before. Probably.”

Ooh-kay then. The sexy smile faded, and his intense focus on her made her want to squirm. “What? Why are you looking at me like that? Why did you tackle me?”

“Enough,” he said, raising his voice.

Just as Riley decided she really was in the company of an unbalanced man and it was time to make her exit, the dogs quieted. “Oh, you were talking to them.” There went that dimpled smile again.

“I’d never yell at you, darlin’.” He pushed up to a sitting position. “Know who’d like to see you dead?”

Well, hell. Just when she was beginning to think he was sane, he went and ruined her hope. Hope, because her stomach was still doing that fluttery-twitchy thing, and really, she was way overdue for some playtime. She just bet he was a man who could teach her a few new tricks.

She shook her head. “Of course not. Why would you even ask such a question?”

As if used to scoping out his surroundings, he scanned the area around them. “Because whoever was driving that car aimed right at you.”

“Huh?”

He reached over and put his fingers under her chin, closing her mouth. “Someone just tried to kill you, darlin’.”

“Stop calling me that. My name’s Riley. Riley Austin.” Although she actually liked how the endearment sounded when he said it, she would never admit it. She had the feeling he was a man who pushed the boundaries of how far he could go. She swallowed a snort.
Admit it, Riley. You’d like him to push your boundaries.

“Riley,” he said, his voice caressing her name. “Nice to meet you. I’m Cody Roberts.”

And of course, he would have a sexy cowboy name. “That car, it was just someone not paying attention, probably texting.”

“Sorry, darlin’ . . . ah, Riley, but no. They were looking right at you and aimed for you. Whoever it was had on a knit hat and dark glasses even though it’s night. Couldn’t tell if it was a man or woman. I should have gotten the plate number, but I was too busy saving your pretty ass. It was an older model Chrysler, a Sebring maybe, so we know that much.”

He thought her ass was pretty?
Pay attention, Riley.
Did someone really try to run her over? She couldn’t think of a soul who had it out for her. “No, no one’s trying to kill me.” On top of her patients dying of poison, that would just be too much. “No,” she said with conviction, “you’re wrong.”

“I don’t think—”

Those eyes. She could drown in them. Before she thought better of it, she leaned forward and, oh God, she was kissing him.

CHAPTER THREE

C
ody was not a man easily shocked, but Riley Austin managed to do just that when, without warning, her mouth covered his. It had been months—a lot of months—since he’d touched a woman, and her taste was as sweet as a cool drink of spring water to a man lost for years in a godforsaken desert.

Never mind that he was crazy and she shouldn’t let him anywhere near her, he needed what she was offering too much to be a gentleman. Hell, he’d never been a gentleman. He cradled the back of her neck with one hand and angled his head, deepening the kiss. Her mouth softened and her eyes slid closed.

Wanting more, he pressed his tongue to the seam of her lips, and her mouth parted. So good, so damn good. It had been too long since he’d had his mouth on a woman’s, and he couldn’t suppress a moan. At the sound, she pulled away and blinked as if coming out of a trance.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“I’m not.” It was too dark to see the color of her cheeks, but he’d bet his two drinks for that night that she was blushing. Although he didn’t know how to do tender, something inside him felt weirdly soft for this woman, a stranger to him, and it wasn’t a feeling he liked.

Riley Austin, kisser of strange men, target of an unknown enemy, stood and brushed the grass from the back of her shorts. He wouldn’t at all have minded doing that for her, but doubted she’d appreciate his hands on her ass. And it really was a lovely one. Cody pushed up and waited to see what she would say.

“Well, I guess it’s possible you saved me from being hit by a car. That would have just been the last straw on an already crap week. So thank you.” She glanced over at his dogs, both on their bellies, their attention glued on him. “I’m a veterinarian and to repay you, I’m offering my services free for a year.”

The bad, bad side of his brain almost had his mouth saying that he’d love to have her services for a year. The small part of him that was still civilized managed to stop his mouth from uttering the words.

“Not necessary,” he said, “but appreciate the offer. I do need to find a vet for them, and you’ll do just fine, but I pay as I go.”

“First visit is free then. My clinic is listed. Emerald Coast Animal Care. Night.”

And just like that, she was gone. “Good night, darlin’,” he softly said as she closed her door behind her. And he would be keeping an eye on her because whether or not she wanted to believe it, there was no doubt in his mind that whoever was driving that car had aimed right for her.

His interest in her had nothing to do with how sweet she’d tasted when he had kissed her. Nope, not a thing. Sally and Pretty Girl, sensing his mood as they so often did, trotted quietly alongside him into his house.

After making the first of his two drinks for the night, he went out to the porch and picked up his guitar. He strummed a few chords, then settled on the Clapton song bouncing around in his head, one he rarely played. As the sound of “Wonderful Tonight” curled around him, he closed his eyes and quietly sang the words while thinking of Riley Austin and the kiss they’d shared. When the song ended, he sat back and stared at the house across the street. He never should have kissed her.

“Soldier.”

The quiet voice stopped Cody. He motioned for his spotter to head on up to the roof of the building they’d scouted out a few days earlier. Cody was familiar with the occupants of the house across the alley. Covered in a burqa, Asra, the teenage girl who lived there with her parents and two brothers, beckoned him before disappearing inside.

He ran low to the other side of the street and ducked into the open door of her home, his Glock palmed in his hand. Taking off on his own was against regulations and foolhardy, but she’d given him good intel on the Taliban twice now. Her only condition had been that no one know about her. He understood. The Taliban would kill her and her family if they ever learned of her treachery.

Adjusting his eyes to the dusty shadows of the house, he zeroed in on Asra, doubled over and holding her stomach. She yanked away the material covering her face. Blood dripped from a cut on her neck. Every hair on his body stood on end. The situation was bad, but he wasn’t sure why. Had the Taliban somehow learned that she’d been passing their locations to him? He stepped toward her. It was quiet, too damn quiet.

The air behind him shifted, and he spun . . .

Drenched in sweat, Cody shot up, gasping for air. Nothing about the nightmare made sense. He didn’t know anyone named Asra, and was sure he’d never stepped inside her house. Why did he keep having this dream that always ended at the same place?

He’d only been injured once, but had no memory of what had happened. His team had found him unconscious on the street with a large knot on the back of his skull, so they assumed someone had hit him on the back of the head. Cody wasn’t so certain, but he had no other explanation. Yet, he couldn’t quite accept that anyone could have gotten that close without his sensing danger.

Since he had no desire to go back to sleep and risk the nightmare returning, he untangled his legs from the covers. Gray light poked in around the edges of the window blinds, telling him it was dawn. Plenty of time for a run before he had to leave for work. Pretty Girl and Sally, instantly leaving their beds when seeing him up and slipping on running clothes, pranced around his feet.

“Yeah, we’re going running.” They raced out of the room, then back in to see if he was coming. “Right behind you.” They took off again. At the edge of the yard, he clipped on their leashes, the signal that they could cross the boundary.

The early December morning was chilly, but nothing like Vermont, where he’d grown up and his parents still lived, at this time of year. It was also nothing like the winter nights in Afghanistan. Those were a ballbuster. Sometimes he missed Vermont’s winter snow, especially at Christmas, but since his time in the military, he’d become cynical where holidays were concerned.

His parents wanted him to come home for Christmas. He wasn’t sure they meant it. For the love of the son they’d never expected to have and didn’t understand, they politely sent him invitations to each of their college events, and for the love of them, he politely declined. He knew they’d been relieved he hadn’t made an appearance, and he’d been just as relieved to not have been stared at with distaste by his parents’ friends and colleagues, the son who’d disappointed the professors by not following them into academia.

If just one person asked how it felt to kill a human being, he feared he’d go ballistic. That question had been pointedly directed at him the last time he’d attended one of his parents’ socials. He had walked out the door without answering because his answer would have been, “Would you have rather seen me or one of my teammates killed?”

Don’t go there, Dog.
Focusing on the sound of his feet slapping on the pavement and that of his dogs’ panting breaths, he fell back on his sniper training and let his mind go blank. Nothing else mattered but who was lined up in his sights, or at that moment, putting one foot in front of the other.

Damn, he was fucked up.

Pretty Girl whined, and Cody glanced down at her to see her chocolate-brown eyes were trained on him. Stupid dog was entirely too sensitive to his moods. He looked away from her inquisitive eyes, stumbling at seeing the woman running ahead of him, one whose sexy bottom he recognized. Catch up with her or turn around and pretend he’d not seen her? He slowed, trying to decide what to do. His saner self said to turn around. Kissing her had been too good for his peace of mind. If he got near her, he’d want to do it again.

Pretty Girl took the decision out of his hands by giving a bark of welcome, then Sally echoed her, giving his own deeper bark. Riley turned, jogging backward, and her gaze settled on his dogs as she smiled at them. Damn, he wished she’d smile at him like that. Or, maybe he didn’t wish that.

She ran in place, waiting for him to catch up, and when she finally met his eyes, her cheeks flushed and her smile seemed uncertain. Her gaze slid away as she returned her attention to the dogs. Was she embarrassed that she’d kissed him? When she knelt, he let the lines out on the leashes, giving the dogs permission to go to her.

“Hello, sweet things,” she said, scratching under their chins, laughing when both tried to lick her face. “You said this one’s name is Sally? You do realize he’s a boy, right?”

“I noticed. All my dogs are named after Eric Clapton songs. He doesn’t sing about men. Doesn’t seem to bother Sally, though.” He stepped closer, even though he should stay as far away from her as possible. “Behave, you two.” The dogs plopped their butts on the ground, peering up at him with their soulful brown eyes, as if he were denying them their fun.

“It’s okay. I’m used to being slurped by dogs.” She stood, and her eyes focused on the vicinity of his neck. “Listen, about last night, I—”

“Forgotten.” An outright lie. It would be a long time, if ever, that he’d forget how soft her lips were, how sweet she tasted. His gaze lowered to her mouth when she chewed on her bottom lip. Damn but he wanted her. But he was not for her. Until he got his head on straight, he wasn’t for anyone.

Riley was mortified. He’d already forgotten she had kissed him? Or more like, her kiss had been so out of line that the last thing he wanted to do was remember. His bristled dark cheeks, along with that intense focus he trained on her, made her insides feel like pudding. He probably hated pudding. Gah, just being near him made her silly.

From the haunted look in his eyes, though, he was probably a man she should avoid if she were smart. But there was something about him that tugged at the places inside her too long ignored. What to do about that?

She shook one leg, then the other. “Well, I guess I’ll finish my run. Wanna come?” His gaze slid over her, and his eyes darkened.
Smoldering
. There was no other word for the way he looked at her, and when she thought about what she’d said and his reaction, her cheeks felt like they were on fire.

He chuckled as he traced a finger over her bottom lip. “You have no idea how much I
wanna
, darlin’, but I’d best be heading home.”

“Bye,” she whispered to his retreating back. “Nice butt,” she added as he and his dogs rounded the corner.

The morning was normal, no emergencies, no poisoned animals. Riley breathed a sigh of relief as she pulled off her lab coat before heading for the small kitchen. Her staff of two, an assistant and an office manager, had gone out to lunch, and she welcomed an hour of quiet. After locking the door behind them, she stuck her head inside the refrigerator, eyeing the contents. Slim pickings. A container of lemon yogurt and a half-full package of cheese sticks were about it. That she’d forgotten to stop at the grocery store to restock on her way to work, she blamed on a man with caramel-colored eyes who had sucked all thoughts but those of him from her mind that morning.

“Damn brain-sucking zombies,” she muttered. With her meager lunch in hand, she went to her office. After a few minutes of debate, she picked up the phone and called Maria Buchanan. She had first met Maria when she had brought in her cat, Mouse. After several visits to Riley’s clinic with her cat, Maria and Riley had met for lunch one day and hit it off. They had since made lunch a weekly habit. Maybe Maria could talk her out of setting her sights on a man with a sexy cowboy name, a devastating dimple, and smoldering eyes.