Bound by Danger (26 page)

She hurried back into the living room and pulled the check from her purse. She scribbled on a deposit slip.

Johnson walked into the room with his arms wrapped around the hard drive. “Here, stick the check into my back pocket.”

Deidre winked at Dave as she tucked the check and the deposit slip deep into Johnson’s back pants pocket. Johnson grinned at her. “Anything else you’d like for me to do?”

“Hmm, well maybe some chocolate chip cookies later?”

Dave pushed him toward the door. “We’ll see you in a bit, Johnson.”

Deidre tucked a curl behind her ear. “If it needs a new hard drive, can you pick one up for me? I’ll pay you back afterward.”

“Sure thing, Miss Roux.”

“I’ll help you out to the Suburban, Johnson.” Dave opened the door for him.

Deidre sat on the couch and continued to sort through her mail. She frowned as she read the next envelope’s return address. Josh Henderson. She pulled the letter out and unfolded it.

Hi, Deidre!

I just got into town. I’ll be giving you a call in the next couple of days. I’ve heard the new French restaurant is pretty good. Love to take you there. Yours, Josh.

Josh Henderson. She’d dated him twice, and then he’d been shipped off to a course at Fort Knox, Kentucky. After a week, his correspondence had dropped off. She figured he’d found someone else and forgotten her. So she was really surprised to hear from him.

The phone rang, shattering the silence, and she dropped the letter on the floor. She ran into the kitchen and grabbed the receiver. “Hello?”

“Hey, Deidre! It’s me, Josh. I’ve been assigned to the 2d Armored Division. Isn’t that great?”

She faced the front door as the knob twisted. Dave pushed the door open, but his smile turned contemplative as he studied her holding the phone to her ear.

She took a deep breath before speaking into the phone. “Josh, I hadn’t heard from you in so long. I didn’t know what happened to you.”

“Sorry, Deidre. Classes were pretty hectic and after school was over, I took a month of leave to visit family and friends in Washington.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear you’re fine.”

Dave sat on the couch and flipped through a magazine on home decorating lying on the coffee table. Deidre smiled. He wasn’t really reading the magazine. Instead, he listened intently to every word she said.

“I want to drop by and see you. I thought we could go to supper tonight. I’ve got to be on a training field exercise all next week so I won’t be coming home nights for the rest of the week. But then I thought we might spend the weekend in San Antonio.”

He was a nice fellow, and if Dave hadn’t shown up when he did, she might have taken Josh up on his offer. Josh’s silence had annoyed her in the beginning, but afterward she figured he was being reassigned somewhere far from her and this was the end for them anyway. Now he would be stationed with her for the next three years.

She studied Dave as his brow furrowed. Josh could continue to be there for her. Dave was leaving soon.

“I’m really tied up for the next week, Josh. Can I call you later after your training exercise is over? Next weekend perhaps?”

“You’re not seeing someone, are you?”

Only if spending every second of the day with Dave, her federally-mandated bodyguard, could be considered seeing someone. She cleared her throat. How could she explain she had federal agents crawling all over her place morning, noon, and night? And that her heart was torn between distancing herself from Dave, because she knew they’d be separated soon enough, and giving herself to him fully?

“No, I’m not engaged or anything.”

Dave’s eyes shot up to catch her look. Before this, he’d tried to act nonchalantly about her conversation, but his reaction made her believe he was ready to take Josh on. She loved it when he was her knight ready to do battle for her. She only wished their career choices had been more compatible so that they could have stayed together.

“Can I see you, Deidre?”

“Next week, Josh.”

“Today, just for a moment. I haven’t thought of anything else since I got orders for Fort Hood. I tried calling you numerous times but your workplace said you were on emergency leave. I tried your home, and there was never any answer. So I sent you a letter. Did you get it?”

“Yes, I got home today and picked up my mail. I was glad to hear from you.”

Dave’s cell phone rang. He answered it abruptly. She could tell he was annoyed to be interrupted when he was trying to listen to her phone conversation. He extended the receiver to her. “What kind of pizza toppings did you want?”

Subtle, Dave.
Let the guy I’m trying to start up a new relationship with know you’re in my apartment.

She covered the mouthpiece of her phone as she frowned at him. “Anything.”

He spoke into his phone loud and clear, “Anything, she says is all right with her.”

Josh said, “I’m sorry. Have you got company, Deidre?”

“My new neighbor dropped by. His stove is on the blink, and he invited me to share a pizza he’s ordering out with a couple of his friends.”

Dave clipped his phone back to his belt as a small smile brightened his face.

“I haven’t eaten,” Josh said.

She hadn’t realized what a pushover she was. Didn’t anyone ever take no for an answer? “Next week, Josh. I couldn’t very well invite you over for a pizza I wasn’t buying.”

“Have him drop on by!” Dave shouted.

Heart pounding, she scowled at Dave. What was he trying to pull?

Josh had heard. “I’ll be right over!” He hung up before she could stall him further.

She could have slapped Dave standing so smugly near her.

He raised his brows heavenward and beamed. “He’s coming over, isn’t he?”

“Yes, thanks to you. What are you trying to do? Blow your cover?”

Chapter 18

Dave cleared his throat, not about to allow Deidre to pick up with some old boyfriend. “So who is he? An old flame? I thought you hadn’t been dating—”

Deidre folded her arms. “He’s been gone for about nine months. But he got reassigned back here.”

“Ah.” Dave poked his fingers through her hair. He loved to rile her, as good natured as she was. A warm glow touched her cheeks, coloring them cherry. “Did you tell him you’re being reassigned away from here? Not to get too interested?”

She shook her head. “I’ll be here for another three years. The only one who’s leaving, is you.”

His arms enveloped her. “Not anytime soon.”

Johnson shoved the door open, pizzas in hand.

Dave disentangled himself from Deidre and greeted him. “There’s an old beau of Deidre’s dropping in for a slice of pizza.”

Deidre smiled at Johnson when his eyes shifted to her. “It wasn’t my fault.
Dave
invited him.”

Setting the pizzas on the dining table, Johnson laughed. “Good going, Boss.”

“She couldn’t ditch him. I didn’t want him to get suspicious about us.” Dave winked and Johnson nodded knowingly. No longer undercover despite Deidre’s concern, Dave had every intention of showing the old boyfriend he’d lost out once he’d left Deidre behind. He addressed Deidre next. “What does he look like?”

“Kind of like you.”

Johnson chuckled under his breath.

“Dark haired, dark eyes, my build?”

“Yep.”

“All right, well go tell Bill not to draw his weapon on him, unless I say,” Dave told Johnson. If Deidre had any notion of seeing anyone other than himself, she’d better think again. He chuckled to himself.

“Sure thing, Boss.” Johnson headed out.

Deidre shook her head as she returned to the kitchen. Dave joined her as she grabbed glasses from her cabinet. “Here, make yourself useful. Fill them with ice.” She took a deep breath. “I can’t believe you’ve done this.”

“The poor man is beside himself. Wouldn’t take a ‘no’ about seeing you, would he? If I were him, I could see why.” He began to fill the glasses with ice cubes, totally pleased with himself.

Johnson led Bill back into her apartment and Bill said, “So what’s this all about, Dave? I hear you’ve set up a fighting match.”

Dave chuckled. This was better than any sports game.

Deidre set the plates on the table when the doorbell rang. “Men.”

The guy was fast. He must live just around the corner, hoping to be near Deidre on this assignment? Maybe he was a little worried Dave was Deidre’s new neighbor and had already practically moved in with her. Which he had.

Dave crossed the living room to get the door. Bill and Johnson waited while Dave peered out the peephole, agreeably satisfied. “He doesn’t look anything like me. He’s a shrimp in comparison, for one thing. And he doesn’t have any chin at all. In another ten years, he’ll have a double one.” He pulled the door open. “Are you Josh?”

The look of astonishment on Josh’s face as his jaw dropped slightly amused Dave. Josh didn’t know what he was getting himself into. Dave figured the guy had to have thought Deidre was having a wild bachelor’s party.

“Hi, Josh.” She hurried over to the door and held her hand out to him in greeting.

He took it, pulled her close, and kissed her hard on the mouth. “I’ve wanted to do that for months.”

Dave narrowed his eyes in response. The muscle in his jaw tightened. His fists clenched. Deidre was
his
girl…no one else’s.

***

Deidre knew her face had to have been as crimson as a red hot candy heart. She turned to see the men all watching her with baited breaths.

“This is Bill Hummer,” she said pointing to Bill, “and this is Johnson.” She’d never heard his first name, so she left it at that. She nodded to Dave. “Dave Caruthers. And fellows, this is Josh Henderson.”

“Deidre’s old boyfriend.” Josh grinned as he shook the men’s hands.

He was not! Deidre could have killed Dave for inviting Josh over. What she needed after all she’d been through was a relaxing dinner. Now as she sat down to eat, tension filled the air.

Josh cleared his throat. “So, which one of you is Deidre’s new neighbor?”

Dave spoke up, “I moved in a little while ago. Deidre’s been real neighborly. She showed me a good time at Lake Belton already.”

He was fixing her good. Josh was sure to drop her right after he choked his lunch down. She wanted to kick Dave under the table, but was afraid she’d hit Johnson by accident.

Josh leaned back in his chair. “Yeah? She sure wears a string bikini well.”

She caught the look of surprise on Dave’s face as his jaw dropped slightly and his eyes widened.

Bill grinned. “Kind of missed that.”

Josh looked over at him. She assumed he wasn’t sure how to take Bill’s meaning.

Deidre tried to explain, “We borrowed Bill’s boat and I was wearing a one-piece.”

“Now, I’ve seen that.” Johnson pulled off another slice of pepperoni pizza.

Deidre’s body grew hot as her palms began to sweat. “Around the pool.” Deidre waved her hand at the pool at her apartment complex. The guys were definitely ganging up on her.

Josh reached over and grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “I thought we might take in a movie this evening.”

“No,” Dave said.

Johnson and Bill chuckled.

“What he means is—” she said.

“My VCR’s out and Deidre promised to watch a movie with the boys and me tonight,” Dave interrupted.

Switching his attention to Deidre, Josh cleared his throat. “I’ll be in the field all week, Deidre. I thought we could at least take in a movie tonight. Maybe your neighbor and his friends could watch their rental here, if you didn’t mind and we could—”

“I’m sorry, Josh, but I promised them.”

After finishing the rest of the pizza, Josh waited for the men to leave, but Johnson poked on the television, then sat on the couch to watch the news. Bill walked into the kitchen and pulled a soda out of the fridge. Dave sat at the table and kept his eyes on Deidre.

She finally jumped up from her seat. “Let’s take a little walk, Josh, before you go.”

“I’ll go also,” Dave said in a hurry.

Josh held his hand up to Dave and shook his head. “I’ll take a little walk, alone, with her.”

“You can’t, Deidre,” Dave said, his voice brusque, a Fed telling the one he was protecting—as was his
job
—that she wouldn’t be allowed to.

Fine. She was stuck telling the truth. She folded her arms. “The truth is, Josh, these men are federal agents. They’re here to protect me. It’s a federal case and I can’t get into it, but that’s the situation.”

Josh smiled broadly. “Hell, that certainly explains a lot. I kind of wondered what was going on. Figured the big fellow was trying to make moves on my girl.”

His
girl?

“Will you be all right then?” Josh asked.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll give you a call next week after you get back from your training.”

Josh walked close to her and smacked her with a wet sloppy kiss. When he left the apartment, she hurried to wipe off the wet slobbery kiss. She turned to see the others grinning at her.

Dave chuckled. “He hasn’t got any class.”

“Ohh.” She hurried into her bedroom and slammed the door.

A few minutes later, Dave knocked on her door. “Movie’s on.”

“I’m busy.”

“Aw, come on, Deidre. You really didn’t like the guy.”

“He’s all right.”

“You don’t like his kisses.”

She opened the door.

Dave brown eyes twinkled with mischief, a small smile curving his mouth.

“I can’t believe you invited him over.”

“Come on. Johnson and Bill are over at my place watching a different movie—a little racier than Jackie Chan’s. We can have some popcorn and—”

She bumped past him.

“I’ve seen you blush before, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you get as red as when he mentioned the string bikini. How come I didn’t get a look at it?”

“The top’s missing. Unless I go to a topless beach, it’d never work.”

“I’m sure I could arrange it.”

She rolled her eyes and shoved a package of popcorn into the microwave.

“It’s sure a shame you misplaced the top.”

“I didn’t. A wave stole it away.”