Solid Muscle (Unseen Enemy Book 5) (6 page)

She stared at the target and the whole world around it disappeared. She extended her arms –
not too stiff, keep them a bit loose
– flicked the safety off with her thumb and fired eight rounds in rapid succession, barely thinking as she did so. When her eyes focused again, she saw that she’d at least hit the target.

So I haven’t totally embarrassed myself in front of him. Thank God.

She pressed the button to retrieve her target and it moved smoothly towards her on the cable. Hunter was next to her now and he reached out to remove the paper. He stared down at it, stunned that she’d hit the target eight times. None smack in the centre on the ‘x’, but none went beyond the second circle for eight points. If she’d been aiming for a guy’s heart, she’d have for sure driven a bullet in to his lung and that was good enough to get her away and safe, if it came to that.

He indicated for her to remove her earmuffs and she did. She shook her hair back and stared up at him.

“Fucking ‘A’, Cordelia,” he said. “Damn impressive.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Now I want you to do it again, but square your hips.”

“OK.”

“I’ll help you. Load up and cover your ears again.”

He set up a new paper target on the wire, sent it back to the wall. Meanwhile, she loaded her live ammo carefully and he watched her hands move on the gun. It was unbearably sexy, seeing her fingers sliding up and down the shaft, strong and confident. He was horrified when his cock twitched and he fought to control himself.

A moment later, he was almost lost, though, when he stood directly behind her. Gently, he placed his large hands on her hips, positioned her to face front. The scent of her hair was right under his nose and her sleek curves were under his fingers and he longed to push her up against the wall, palm that hot little pussy. He’d take her hard, he’d take her until she screamed. Unable to help himself, he dug in to her soft flesh, just a bit, wanting her to feel his touch through the material of her conservative navy blue skirt.

Cordelia was achingly aware that Hunter was right behind her. She felt his heat and strength and she wanted to just lean back in to it, to press in to that huge chest. She’d throw her head against his muscled shoulder as his fingers slid down her thighs and tugged her trim little skirt up. If those strong fingers shoved her panties aside, he’d find that she was totally, completely open and soaked for him. And if he slipped a thick, rough finger inside her now, she’d come on the spot and in seconds, she was sure of it.

He leaned forward, his breath on her cheek, and carefully squeezed her hips once more. She took that as a signal to fire, so she took a deep breath, tried to ignore her body’s helpless response to Hunter’s closeness. She stared at the target, stared at the ‘x’ at its heart. Her vision cleared, her body relaxed, her finger pulled.

It felt better this time, cleaner, more natural. When she stopped and dropped her arms, she felt Hunter’s breath on the back of her neck again. He tapped her earmuffs and she lifted them, rested them on her neck.

“Was that better?” she asked, her voice lower than usual.

“Yeah. For sure. Look.”

The target came close enough to see now and sure enough, she’d hit dead center three times.

“Huh.” She blinked. “Amazing.”

“You’re a damn good shot,” he said. “Let’s keep practicing.”

“Yeah, OK.” She stepped away from him to reload her gun and felt a twinge of loss and regret at doing so. “A few more rounds.”

“Quite a few.” Sully didn’t think she’d need much more practice, to be honest, but he
did
think he wanted to keep standing right behind her, touching her hips. He argued with himself that it was to help her, to give her some guidance, but he knew damn good and well that was bullshit. He just liked touching her and he was going to do it every single chance he got. And as Garrett Baker, he’d do nothing
but
touch her when they were out in public. The thought both terrified and elated him.

Fuck. I’m dead in the water here. Goddammit.

Chapter Six

“So. You are Hunter Sullivan are playing husband and wife. Again.”

Cordelia sighed and turned around. Chantal was standing in her bedroom doorway, studying her carefully. Her Mom’s eyes were shrewd and clever behind her glasses and Cordelia knew that her mother saw everything written on her face. Cordelia had gotten her natural people-reading ability from
someone
, after all… and that person was now standing smack in front of her. She was also going in to Spanish Inquisition Mode and Cordelia braced herself.

“Yes.” Cordelia folded some underwear and packed it in her brand-new crazy-expensive suitcase. Dallas had sent a whole set over while she was at the range and she’d almost passed out when she’d seen the monogram ‘LV’ on the distinctive brown leather.

The six-piece set had been sitting in the middle of her single bed, passing judgement on her bedroom, she was sure. The luggage had made the whole room look shabbier and she’d physically cringed at the thought of her Walmart cotton panties degrading the perfect, hand-stitched lining. Thank God she was going to get some decent clothes the next day; she needed clothing worthy of Louis Vuitton.

“Uh-huh.” Chantal shifted on her feet. “You gonna be able to handle that?”

“Handle what?”

“Him. Being around him.”

“Of course I will, Mom. I did before.”

“Sure. And then you came back from Oregon all moony-eyed and distracted like a teenaged girl with a crush.”

“I did not!”

Chantal rolled her eyes. “Why are you lying to your mother?”

“Why are you going on and on about this?” Cordelia decided that the best defense in this case was a good offense. “It’s just work.”

“Oh, my God.”

“What?”

“It’s not ‘just’ anything and you know it and I know it. Hunter is special and the more you deny it, the less I believe it.”

It was hopeless, Cordelia knew. Chantal wasn’t going to stop and she wasn’t going to back down. Cordelia sighed, fessed up.

“OK, Mom, OK.” She bit her lip. “He’s – he’s something special, alright? But it goes one way only, believe me.”

“How’s that?”

“You remember Bobby Corbett? Back in high school?”

Chantal cocked her head. “Uh… football player? You tutored him in math sometimes?”

“Yep. He came up to me after math class one day all sweet and smiling, begged me for my notes. I gave them to him and then he begged me for some extra help.”

“Yeah. And?”

“So I helped him. Soon we were studying every day after school and he flirted like crazy and hinted at
maybe
asking me to the prom and
maybe
going out together for real. Remember all this?”

“Sure.”

“So then you remember what happened next, right? He got me to basically carry him through math that year and kick up his GPA to secure that football scholarship. He led me on and teased me to keep me happy, and the second he got that final test mark, I was a stranger to him. He stopped talking to me, cut off all contact, didn’t even look at me in the hallway.”

“What’s this got to do with Hunter?”

“Hunter Sullivan’s nice to me when I serve a purpose… as soon as that purpose is done, so is our contact.”

Chantal stared at her, dumbfounded. “I don’t believe that.”

“Well, you should.”

“Why should I?
You
don’t.”

She paused. “Yes, I do.”

“Lying to me again,” Chantal huffed. “Which is fine, but don’t you
dare
lie to yourself, girl. You don’t think Hunter’s an asshole so stop saying you do.”

Cordelia looked away.

“Now, you
do
think he’s capable of hurting you and that part I actually agree with.”

Cordelia looked back. “You do?”

“Yeah. I’ve seen you with other men, honey, and
none
of them have gotten to you the way that he has. You’ve dated and spent time but you haven’t let anybody in… not really. But Hunter Sullivan got in – maybe just a tiny bit, but he did – and then he turned all cold and distant and that hurt you. I think it even
surprised
you that it hurt you.”

“Yeah,” Cordelia admitted quietly. “Yeah, it did hurt and it did surprise me.”

“So I’m asking again: you gonna be able to handle this?”

“I
have
to, Mom. This whole thing that I’m doing is about something big… bigger than anything else.”

“You can’t tell me?”

“No, I can’t. I’m sorry. But trust me, OK? When I get in to the op for real, just about the
last
thing on my mind will be Hunter Sullivan blowing hot and cold.”

“Yeah?”

Cordelia thought about those babies and small kids taken from their families, held in hidden places until some rich couple swanned on in and chose them, like a side of beef or a pair of shoes. Like these kids were commodities or possessions; like they were things to own just because a person had money.

“Yes.” Her voice was steady again and she met Chantal’s eyes without wavering. “Where I’m going and what I’m doing? It’s important. It’s more important that anything I may want or think or feel.”

“You’ll be careful?”

Cordelia’s face softened. “Hunter may be many things, but he isn’t a man who lets his partner get hurt. If I’m with him, Mom, he’ll have my back. I’m safe.”

“Promise, honey?”

“I promise.” Cordelia gave a wry smile. “He won’t let me make him a damn cup of coffee but he
also
won’t let me get hurt. I know that.”

**

Sully glanced at the clock on the common area wall. It was going on eight o’clock now and he knew that the nurse would be around soon with the medication. He knew the nursing home routines like the back of his hand.

“Hunter?”

“Yeah, Dad?”

“You leave tomorrow or the day after?”

Sully had given this information six times already, but he didn’t act like it. “Day after. Me and Cordelia drive to Kansas bright and early and we’ll have a few days to settle before we have to get to work for real.”

“Ah.” Richard Sullivan’s dark eyes were puzzled. “And who’s Cordelia?”

“A woman I work with,” Sully said for about the twentieth time. “She’s going to be an amazing profiler one day.”

Richard’s face lit up at that: he’d been a psychologist for the FBI for twenty years and any talk of profiling perked him up every time. “Smart girl.”

“She is. Damn smart.”

“Are you dating her?”

Sully paused. “No.”

“Because?”

“Because… we work together.”

Richard snorted and displayed an unusual – though badly-timed, really – moment of clarity. “That’s never stopped you before.”

“Yeah, well. Cordelia’s different, OK? Her kid is sick and she’s up to her eyeballs in things to deal with. The last thing she needs is more crap.”

“So you think you fall under the category heading of ‘crap’?”

“Christ, Dad, what’s with you tonight?”

“I’m kinda on the ball, huh?”

“You sure as hell are.”

“So answer the question… you think you’re hard to deal with?”

Sully paused. “Yeah. I guess so.”

“Hunter,” the older man said gently. “That was all a long time ago now. You’re forty years old and you’re not built for being alone like this. You’re the kind of man who wants a wife. A family.”

Sully stared down at the checker board.

“You
are
allowed to be happy, son. You
are
allowed to move on.”

“I’m not sure that I want to.”

“You punishing yourself, still? After twelve years?”

Sully was silent.

“Listen to me, Hunter.”

“Yes, sir.”

“That’s enough now. You’ve mourned them long enough and hard enough, I promise you. I have
never
seen a man hurt the way that you have since you lost them. You never have to forget them, you know, never stop loving them. But you
do
need to let them go. You need to rejoin the living, not freeze your heart solid to stop yourself from feeling. Not anymore.”

Sully hesitated. “It’s not just about that, Dad.”

“I know. It’s also about feeling that you failed Jessica and the baby, isn’t it? And since you’re so sure you failed them, you’re
also
sure that you’ll fail like that again. And what keeps you up at night is this question: if you
do
fail the next person who trusts you and loves you, then how bad will they be hurt this time?”

Hunter stared at his father. “I – I just don’t think it’s a good idea for someone to let me love them. I’m not a good bet. Not a safe one.”

“My God, boy. What you
are
is an idiot.”

“Maybe.”

“Not ‘maybe’. You are. You have so much damn love to give and you’re letting it all shrivel up and die inside of you. Share it, Hunter. Give it to someone.” Richard grinned at his huge, strapping son sitting there like he’d just been caught throwing a baseball through the neighbor’s window. “Give it to Cordelia.”

Right on cue, Sully blushed like a ten-year-old kid and his Dad laughed.

“Yep. She’s your girl, whether you want to admit it or not.”

“She’s not my
girl
, Dad. She’s thirty-five years old.”

Richard shrugged. “I’m seventy-three. Thirty-five sounds pretty damn young to me.”

Sully chuckled. “Yeah, I suppose it is.”

“So.” Richard glanced up as the medicine cart was rolled in to the common room. “You go and do your secret special-ops thing with Cordelia, kick bad-guy ass, save the world, triumph over evil. And after you do all of
that
? You ask that girl to dinner.”

“Dinner?”

“Fancy, expensive dinner,” Richard coached him. “With flowers and wine and lots of compliments about how beautiful she looks and how smart she is.”

“I don’t know, Dad…”

“Good God, son.” Richard got to his feet to join the line to get his evening meds. “You can face down crazed stalkers with guns and take down drug cartels but you can’t ask a smart, sweet woman to dinner? You take huge risks every single time you go to work and I
know
it… why not risk for something really, truly important?”

“You mean for a fancy dinner?”

“I mean for love, you stupid boy.
Love
.”

**

Cordelia stared out the SUV window, trying to not think about the next twelve hours. Here she was, trapped in a motorized box with hands-down the sexiest man she’d ever known – the same man who treated her like she was a mere idiot secretary.

But even as she had that thought, she mentally rejected it. No, Hunter
didn’t
treat her like a brainless moron, like a giggling twit who photocopied her ass and messed up simple tasks. He clearly respected her abilities and he’d openly said so, more than once. But still, but still… that fucking comment about just worrying about answering the phones and not faking kindness after the op ended. That still nagged at her and she had to let it go damn soon.

“Cordelia?”

“Yes?” she said without looking at him.

“You want to stop for coffee before we hit the highway?”

“Sure.”

Sully pulled in to the Starbucks and parked. He opened his door. “You want to come in?”

“No, thanks.” Now she did look at him. “I’ll get to work on the file.”

“Sure,” he said, already knowing that this was going to be a long fucking road trip if she wasn’t going to talk to him. “You want anything for breakfast?”

“No, thanks. I’m good.”

“OK. Five minutes.”

Cordelia nodded, opened the thick file and immersed herself in it.

Sully ordered the coffee – remembering that Cordelia loved a shot of cinnamon syrup in hers – and then waited for the order to be filled. As he stood there, he found himself staring at her lowered head. Even though she’d memorized those files over the past three days, she was
still
poring over every single syllable, he just
knew
it. Christ, she was going to kick ass on this op. She wouldn’t stand for anything less.

Sully collected his order, deliberately ignoring the way that the eyes of the woman behind the counter roamed over his chest and forearms. He was well aware that he was a huge, strong man and he’d enjoyed more than his fair share of female attention over the years. Nothing serious, of course, but no one-nighters, either. More… friends with benefits. That was Sully’s speed and he liked that arrangement just fine. Or, at least, he
had
liked it just fine. Until Cordelia.

As he approached the SUV, he decided that he wanted to get Cordelia to warm up to him again. He was no fool: he knew
exactly
when her behavior towards him had changed. It was that day that she’d surprised him with a cup of coffee and he’d told her to drop the little wife act and get back to answering the phones.

God
, the look on her face when he’d said that… he didn’t remember the last time that he’d felt like such an asshole. Instead of giving him the smart backhand that he so thoroughly deserved, though, she’d just turned away from him. He’d watched her go to her desk, everything in his body wanting to call her back, to apologize and explain.

But he didn’t do it. He didn’t want her to want him that way, he didn’t want her to think he was a guy worth wanting. A woman like Cordelia didn’t do friends with benefits, he was certain, and he didn’t do more than that. OK, so maybe they had a mutual attraction, but so the hell what? Acting on it was a no-go and that was it.

Or
was
that it? As Sully got closer to the SUV, he found himself wishing for that easy, teasing relationship that they’d had in Foxburg Falls. He’d loved spending time with her, loved picking that razor-sharp brain for ideas, loved protecting her. She was the whole damn thing: smart and beautiful and compassionate. What the hell was he
doing
, actively making this woman dislike him? Jesus.

So. Maybe they couldn’t do the whole committed relationship thing but that didn’t mean that he had to be so cold and removed. There was no reason why they couldn’t be friendly, right? But even
that
much wouldn’t happen until he showed her some basic decency.