Dance Away, Danger (2 page)

“I’ve got it.” Rylan picked them up and unlocked the door.

His presence calmed her nerves. A little.

She started forward. “Jason?”

Rylan grabbed the sleeve of her coat. “Me first.”

He stepped into the house.

Soft light from the lamp illuminated the room against the shadows of the late hour. Heat hissed and sputtered through the pipes. Jason’s ancient grandfather clock ticked away the seconds. Just like normal.

Floorboards creaked as she moved to Rylan’s side. The smell of stale pizza, warm beer, and something she couldn’t pinpoint knocked her back a step.

“Jason?” Hesitation weakened her voice.

“Wait here.” Rylan walked down the hall toward the bedrooms.

Tessa tugged off her gloves, gripped them in one hand, and ran her other through her tangled curls. No sounds floated down the hallway.

“Come on, Rylan,” she whispered. The house wasn’t very big. Jason was either in bed or he wasn’t.

She flipped on the basement light and tiptoed down a few of the stairs. The boxes Jason still hadn’t found the time to unpack after six months stood stacked next to the wall. The center of the floor remained empty. Returning to the first floor, she walked through the living room toward the kitchen. Strange. Jason never left the sliding glass door open.

She dodged small, dark stains on the rug. What in the world had he spilled? She stepped into the dining area, and froze. A sickly sweet smell threatened to choke her. A pool of blood seeped into the carpet. Too much for a body to lose and still be alive.

No, no, no!

“Rylan!” She stumbled.

Strong arms wrapped around her waist. “I got you,” Rylan’s steady voice washed over her.

Tessa sagged against him as the room swayed. She gripped his forearms. “Did you find him?” Dead from his wounds?

“No. I went through all the rooms.”

Tessa stared at the blood on the carpet. Jason’s? Or someone else’s? The smell threatened to release bile into her throat. Tears burned the corners of her eyes. She would not cry. “We have to help him. He’s hurt!”

Tessa took a deep breath. As a cop, Jason had wanted her to have a clear protocol to follow in case something ever happened to him in the line of duty. They’d gone over it a million times because he knew she was horrible about thinking clearly in a crisis. All she had to do was follow their plan.

She shifted out of Rylan’s arms, and faced him. Step one. “We need to call 911.” Step two. “Then I need to call Dave and Whit.”

Rylan’s face turned to stone. The effect rattled her even more.

“Who are they?” he asked.

“Jason’s partner and boss.” She searched her pockets. Where was her cell phone?

“His partner?”

“Yeah. His Hanover PD partner. How long has it been since you last talked to my brother?”

“A while.”

“How long?”

“Three years.”

Warning bells sounded in her head. “I see.” She nodded. Jason wouldn’t have sent a stranger to her. Why had she trusted him so quickly? What was wrong with her? Hadn’t she learned anything since Gavin betrayed her family and left her to die eight years before?

Tessa tried to push past him, but Rylan grabbed her wrist, twisted her around, and trapped her within his powerful arms. She stilled. His warm male scent almost blocked out the pungent odor of blood. His chin brushed her temple. Suddenly she was aware of just how dangerous he could be.

Calm authority laced his words. “Tessa, I promise you’re safe with me, but we need to go.”

“What about Jason?”

“He wanted me to keep you safe, so….”

“But I’m not the one in danger.”

“We don’t know that for sure.”

He steered her across the room and threw the storm door open. Rylan nudged her forward.

Indecision slid through her veins. She dug in her heels. “We should call the police.”

“No.” He tugged her down the stairs.

She yanked him to a stop. “Talk to me, Rylan, or I swear I’ll scream loud enough to bring the neighbors outside.”

He stood toe-to-toe with her and narrowed his gaze.

Tessa resisted the urge to back up. Instead, she planted her fists on her hips.

“Tessa, you’ve got to trust me. I’ll explain what I’m thinking, but we can’t stay where we are. It’s not safe.”

Divided loyalties jumbled in her head. “Why would I be a target, and why can’t we call the police?”

“I don’t know yet.” He guided her toward the truck. “The cops will arrive soon enough. If a neighbor hasn’t called them yet, they will.”

They would because she stood outside her brother’s house arguing with a strange man. She scanned the empty, quiet street. What was she supposed to do?

He opened the passenger door. The silent plea in his eyes startled her. She gripped the doorframe. He gave her the choice to follow him or not.

But what the hell was the right decision? Danger and intrigue were part of Jason’s world. Her own revolved around learning new dance routines to teach and creating marketing strategies for the studio. She could go with Rylan, but she’d have to keep her wits about her. And she definitely had to keep reins on the layer of comfort she had with the man. She knew nothing about him. Leaving with him might keep her safe for the time being and help find her brother quicker than she would on her own. But blindly following his lead would be foolish, and Tessa Gage was no fool.

One step at a time.

She jumped into the passenger seat and rubbed her hands together for warmth. The scents of tools and wood were welcome after the blood. Rylan settled in the driver’s seat and sped down the street. Snow continued to fall in the dark night, heavier, and with bigger flakes to disrupt visibility.

“Where do we go next?” She belatedly clicked her seatbelt into place.

Rylan’s silence unnerved her. She needed a new plan.

“Hey,” she said.

“I don’t know, all right?” His fingers flexed around the steering wheel. “This isn’t exactly what I signed up for.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t need this crap screwing up my life.”

A string of snarky comebacks crammed her brain, along with a hundred questions, but she refused to give voice to any of them. Afraid, maybe, of the responses he’d give her. Better not to poke the bear.

She watched him out of the corner of her eye. He wasn’t Hollywood handsome, too rugged, but something about him drew her. His dark brown, almost black hair was cut short and desperately needed a comb. His nose was straight, his chin rounded, his cheekbones accentuated by the shadow of late-night stubble.

A police car sailed past them, then another.

Toward Jason’s house, maybe. She twisted to peer out the rear window.

“Tessa,” Rylan said. “There are things you don’t understand. Hell, things I don’t understand.”

“I’d say that’s an understatement.”

“I’m a different man than when Jason and I knew each other.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

Of course her current bodyguard chose now to keep tight-lipped.
Damn.

“Why didn’t you let me call the police?” She at least knew those guys, and Sergeant Whittaker, or Whit as she and Jason had called him for the past dozen years, would know best what to do. “Why take me out of Jason’s house?”

“Your brother said not to trust the cops.”

More alarms rang in her head. Something wasn’t right. She had to keep her head together to uncover the truth.

The truck rolled to a halt at a stop sign, and Rylan turned to face her. “I’ve got to be honest. I haven’t cleared a house or been on a protective detail in years.”

The driver of the car behind them leaned on his horn. Rylan resumed his drive through the streets of Hanover, past the 95 onramp and the shortcut to Warwick. The wipers scraped across the windshield, tossing snowflakes into the air.

She wrapped her arms around her midsection. Was she doing the right thing, going with him?

“I’m a contractor,” Rylan said.

“What?”

“And a carpenter. I build things.” He glanced into the rear view mirror and switched lanes.

An ache formed at her temples. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back. “Great.” Her faith in him crumpled like a dancer with a strained Achilles tendon. “My brother’s life is on the line, possibly mine, too, and I’ve got a construction worker covering my butt.”

“Relax,” he snapped. “I can handle the situation. I’m just out of practice.”

“You keep talking in code. What do you mean you’re out of practice?”

“Exactly what I said. I’m out of practice,” he snapped.

“We should’ve checked the backyard. Jason could be lying out there bleeding to death.” The thought threatened to unravel what control she still had over her emotions. She pinched the skin between her thumb and forefinger to keep herself in check.
Don’t go there
. Emotions made her weak, and weakness was not allowed, not if she intended to come through for her brother.

“He wasn’t out there,” Rylan said.

“How do you know?”

“I looked. No blood trail. No footprints in the fresh snow.”

“You registered all that in the few seconds you stood there?”

“Yeah, and there were a few blood spots on the rug leading to the front door.”

Spots of blood in the living room? What was he talking about? She hadn’t noticed them. Of course, she hadn’t really studied the rug either, except for the big splotch in the dining area. “We should’ve checked to see if his car was in the garage.”

“It wasn’t. I checked through the window when we walked up to the house.”

Suddenly he had mysterious written all over him. “How in the world do you know my brother?”

“We served in the Army together.”

“Jason doesn’t say much about his time in the military, at least not to me.” No wonder she didn’t know the guy. But it made sense for her brother to ask an old Army buddy to keep tabs on her while he couldn’t do it himself.

“Trust me. Some of the things we went through, you’re better off not knowing.”

Jase would need someone battle ready.
Please, please let Rylan remember his training.
“But you learned all those special combat skills, right? I mean, you have to remember how to use guns.”

He slid a glance across the truck.

“Yeah. Those things aren’t easy to forget.”

“Okay.” She had competent help. Together they’d figure out what was going on. Tessa constructed a list of next moves as they continued past the doughnut shop, the Stop and Shop grocery store, and the road to the local beach in the quiet suburb of Warwick. A place where violent crimes didn’t happen. A neighborhood like Jason’s.

A shiver ran through her.

Rylan pulled into the driveway of a modest, brick-faced home a short while later. A bright lamp illuminated an American flag hanging off the awnings, along with a New England Patriots flag.

She had watched football with Jason only a week before.

“Is this your house?” she asked.

“Yeah.” Rylan cut the engine. “We need a safe place to figure out what to do next.”

Tessa climbed out of the truck and rounded the hood. She folded her arms, but still shivered. From the cold. Not from her brother missing and possibly dying, and definitely not from the man who escorted her into his home.

****

Matt didn’t want the responsibility. Tessa needed too much, and he’d already paid his price as a soldier and as a son. He deserved to be free.

When he slammed the car door, his unwanted visitor jumped back at least a foot, her dark-as-chocolate curls whipping around her face. She straightened to her full height. Five-five, five-six, maybe. She barely reached his chin.

Something pinged in his chest. He might not want her at his house, but he didn’t want her on her own, either. He’d prefer her safe and in her own house so he could catch his early morning flight. But the odds of that happening decreased with every second they spent together. Hell yes, he resented the duty, but if the woman truly had no one else to protect her, he couldn’t leave her to fend for herself.

Sucker.

“You’re safe here.” He ushered her up the stairs. “Come on.”

Matt led her through the side door into the kitchen. Warm air enveloped them. Tessa let out a soft moan, which heated his blood.

Another time, under different circumstances, her sound would have a whole different meaning. But Tessa Gage was not the type of woman he’d take to bed no matter how attractive he found her. She’d cling, and he’d be desperate to cut the cords. The women in his life—mother, sisters, girlfriends—had all started out smiling but sooner or later, they’d expected him to sacrifice too much until finally he hadn’t wanted to be bothered with them at all. Tessa would be no different, and he absolutely refused to get caught up in the same role again. Keep her safe, get Jason out of trouble, and hop a bird to paradise.