Freaky by Nature (11 page)

Cam eron turned to look at the sofa. “Cushions.” She swiv eled

back around on the stool, opened one of the books, and flipped a few

pages until she paused and tapped a page with her fingernail.

“How about this?”

Brett listened to the two wom en chatter like m agpies until he

thought his ears would bleed. Why was upholstery so com plicated?

And who the hell cared how m any shades of brown there were in

the m aterial? All that really m attered was that the cushions were

square and not lum py . He shook his head as Holly and Cam eron

launched a new analy sis of curtains.
Damn
. This would take all

night at the rate they were going. Lost in the desperation of being

sucked into the m adness, Brett failed to notice the silence that had

fallen ov er the room until he glanced at the bar.

Cam eron nudged Holly ’s elbow with her own then turned

toward him . “What do y ou think, Brett?”

He sat m orbidly still, alm ost as if he were in a sniper’s sight.

He’d zoned out m inutes ago. What did he think about what? No

way in hell would he ask. Just about the tim e he was ready to

attem pt an answer, his cell phone v ibrated against his hip.

He glanced down at the screen and then grinned at Cam eron.

“I think I need to take this call.”

Holly ’s soft giggle followed him as he walked out the front door

and closed it behind him .

“Hey , Claire,” he said into the phone.

“Was that a fem ale v oice I heard?”

Brett snickered. “Nah. You’re hearing things. I’v e tried to call

y ou all week.”

“Work, work, work.” A heav y sigh crossed the line. “You know

what wacky hours I keep.”

He couldn’t m iss the fatigue in her v oice. “You could still call.

You sound tired.”

“I am , a little.”

“You can’t sleep without m e, can y ou?”

Claire’s laugh was som ewhere between av oidance and hum or.

“I know there was a wom an there when I called. Probably two.”

His heartbeat ratcheted.
Damn
. “Nice try . Don’t change the

subject. Can y ou get som e tim e off? I’d lov e to see y ou.”

“May be. I get the feeling y ou’v e got y our hands full.”

“Tough case,” he confessed.

“What’s her nam e?”

He chuckled and ignored her prod. “Seriously , Claire, com e see

m e soon.”

“Okay , I’ll get som e tim e off. But y ou better entertain m e this

tim e. The last tim e I v isited, I got house fev er from stay ing in bed

all week.”

“I’ll entertain y ou, I prom ise.”

“I’ll let y ou know in a couple day s.”

Brett released a long breath. “I lov e y ou, Claire.”

“Lov e y ou too.”

Brett snapped his phone closed and tapped it against his chin.

Since when had his life becom e so dam n com plicated? First Claire,

now Holly . Neither one of them knew how to follow orders and it

play ed hell with his tem per. And if the two of them ev er m et … not

a risk he was willing to take.

He jam m ed his phone into his pocket just as Sterling walked

toward him , his arm s full of gray fur. He alm ost laughed out loud.

Big badass Cpt. Sterling and his killer pussycat.

“They wouldn’t let y ou help?” Sterling drawled as he stroked

the cat’s ears.

Again, the desire to giv e Sterling a taste of his own m edicine

bubbled in the back of his m outh. He swallowed hard. Then again,

the desire not to piss Sterling off was m uch stronger.

“Hell. I gav e up. Claire called.”

Sterling bent and placed the fat cat on the ground. “Go check

out the Koi pond, Maxwell.”

Maxwell swished the air with his tail before he alm ost rolled off

the porch.

Brett grinned. “That cat needs to be on a diet.”

Sterling sm irked and propped a hip against the porch railing.

“Cam eron say s it would be cruel while she’s pregnant. He eats

ev ery tim e she does. How’s Claire?”

“Fine. Sounds tired. I tried to talk her into com ing to Diablo.”

“Does Holly know about Claire?”

Brett glanced ov er his shoulder and lowered his v oice. “No one

except y ou and Shadow know about Claire.”

Brett felt Sterling’s ey es burn a hole through his Av iator

shades. “You gonna tell her?”

“Not y et.”

“Not sure that’s a good idea.”

“I will, just not y et.”

Brett felt Sterling’s silent reprim and before he finally spoke.

“You can’t protect her forev er, Steele.”

Brett shrugged, knowing Sterling was right on target. If and

when Claire and Holly m et, som ebody would hav e som e m ajor

explaining to do. Nam ely him . “Do y ou m ean Holly or Claire?”

“Both.”

Brett just didn’t want to think about that right now and

quickly steered the conv ersation away from any thing fem ale.

“I’v e got tim e. By the way , I called Shadow.”

“Good strategy . ETA?”

“Whenev er he gets here.”

“Did y ou happen to m ention that to Claire?”

Brett released an irritated sigh. “No. Why should I?”

“No reason.” Sterling pushed him self off the railing and

grabbed the doorknob. “I’ll hav e the alarm installed in a few

hours. You com ing back inside?”

Back in the middle of decorating hell?
“No. I’m going to the office

for awhile. There’s sev eral things I need to check on. Tell Holly I’ll

be back by dark.”

Sterling grinned. “I’ll giv e y ou a three second head start.”

Brett rushed off the porch and jum ped in his truck. He alm ost

felt guilty when he watched Sterling take a deep breath and

disappear behind the door.

CHAPTER TEN

Hidden in the dark shadows of the hallway between the

kitchen and liv ing room , Holly heard the scrape of a key against

the front door lock just before Brett entered the house. As hard as

she tried, she couldn’t stop her ey es from trav eling his body from

the tops of his wide shoulders down to his narrowed waist and

tight, toned backside. Her fingers begged to trace each indention of

hard, solid m uscle, to com m it each to m em ory . Suddenly the urge

to wrap her pleading body around him replaced all good sense. A

Holly-sized
m ountain of pure tem ptation.

To sav e her own sanity , she bit down on her bottom lip and

refocused her attention to his aura. Ribbons of orange-red and dark

gold circled his upper body , form ing bracelets of confidence and

apprehension around his biceps. Lower, m urky hues of y ellow and

brown wrapped his waist and legs. Guilt nudged her when she

realized she was the cause of his distress. Desperate to reliev e his

pain, Holly m ov ed her ey es back to his head and attem pted to

penetrate his thoughts.

She watched him glide his index finger across the sm all, ov al

screen inside the door and then drop his arm to his side so that the

electric ey e scanned the length of his body . Hoping his

concentration had lowered his shields, Holly gav e a firm m ental

push. Much to her surprise, she intercepted a fleeting thought

before the walls closed in as usual. A wom an occupied the recesses

of his m ind. Som eone he cared deeply about. Who was she?

Com m on sense insisted she knew but her sixth sense suggested

otherwise.

The beeping of the alarm forced Holly to push her analy sis to

the back of her m ind. A green light blinked to life and the m aze of

red laser beam s disappeared from the carpet.

Very quietly , she stepped into sight. “I still can’t believ e how

sm art that thing is.”

Brett spun to face her, a gray cloud m asking his all-too-

handsom e features. “Gee-zus, Holly ! I didn’t see y ou.”

A tingle of panic clim bed her v ertebrae when she noticed his

expression – darker than fear and alm ost one of im pending danger.

She swallowed hard. “Sorry .”

He gav e her a cursory glance, obv iously still shaken by her

abrupt appearance. “No one can get past this sy stem . Sterling is

the best.”

Holly fidgeted, her knuckles white as she grasped the edge of

the sofa. “Hav e y ou eaten?”

His ey es narrowed, alm ost as if he were suspicious of her

question. “No. Hav e y ou?”

“No.”

“How about Mexican?” he offered lightly .

She blinked sev eral tim es to allow her ey es to adjust to the

glare of the neon orange bands that now floated on the air around

him . The m an was a walking testosterone bom b.

“I ate a big lunch,” she said.

“Italian?”

“No, thank y ou, I’m not really hungry .”

“Dam n, Holly .” Brett rubbed the back of his neck. “Why are

y ou so dead-set against spending tim e with m e?”

Holly shifted from foot to foot while question m arks danced

through her brain. Should she expose herself? Was she willing to

let him see her true v ulnerability ?

“It’s com plicated,” she hedged.

“No, it’s not.” He took her hand and stroked her knuckles with

his thum b. Sincerity targeted her like arrows to a bulls-ey e. “You

can trust m e.”

Holly searched the depths of his ocean blue ey es for signs of

deception and desperately tried to read him . Once again, she found

his m ind closed and locked securely . Irritation and suspicion poked

her. Why was it so difficult to see inside him ? Most people had

natural shields, but his were way past natural. They were ten feet

tall and steel-plated.

Ready to deny him an explanation again, Holly stopped short

when persistent powder blue bands of concern and com passion

seeped from his sm ile and gav e her the courage to continue.

“I don’t trust too m any people.”

One corner of his m outh lifted. “I hadn’t noticed.”

Despite her fear, she knew he expected an explanation. He

deserv ed one. She walked around the sofa and sat, patting the

cushion beside her.

“Nice pillows,” he said as he dropped beside her.

“Cam eron insisted we shop all afternoon. I don’t think Max

enjoy ed him self though.”

Holly paused as Brett glanced around the liv ing room and a

look of satisfaction cov ered his face. “Sterling shopped with y ou?”

She nodded and for a m om ent, she thought he m ight forget

about the original conv ersation. She knew better when he turned

his attention back to her and folded her hand into his. “Tell m e

why y ou won’t trust any one.”

A m ob of pastels flew from his body and without a second

thought, she spoke. “My parents were killed in an autom obile

accident when I was six. I was shuffled from relativ e to relativ e

until I was finally able to support m y self.”

He squeezed her hand in silent support as if urging her to

continue.

“I put m y self through school by dancing at a gentlem en’s

club.” She gav e a nerv ous half laugh. “I’m sure m y m other would

be v ery proud.”

Holly paused to analy ze his reaction and found a gleam of

interest twinkling in his ey es. No doubt, he was focused on the

dancing
.

“Any way ,” she dism issed the m em ories with a wav e of her

hand, “when I m et Albert, I thought I’d finally found som eone to

lov e and trust. He offered m e the opportunity to liv e norm ally , in

one house, sm othered in com fort. Like an idiot, I bought it.”

“What went wrong?”

“What didn’t go wrong?” She snorted. “The whole relationship

was wrong from the beginning.”

“How so?”

She studied him silently for a m om ent to weigh the

consequences of her confession. No sense holding back now. He’d

find out ev entually and she preferred to be the one to tell him .

She gav e him one last chance to back out. “You really want to

know?”

“Yes.”

“Albert was thirty y ears older than m e and he was m y

chem istry professor. Needless to say , I aced that class.”

His ey es grew openly am used at her attem pted hum or.

“Our relationship didn’t set well with his children. Especially

when he dev eloped his m iracle pill. In their ey es, I was a topless

gold-digger. Little did they know that
topless
fed m y bank account

quite well. In fact, Albert was angry when I opened the gy m in m y

own nam e. That’s when I found out about Marla.”

“Marla?”

“Marla Adam son, his intern. Apparently , they clocked

extracurricular hours between the sheets.”

“I’m sorry , Holly .”

“Don’t be. It kept him out of m y hair. I’d already filed for

div orce when he was m urdered.”

“And then the kids slung ev en m ore m ud.”

“You can’t ev en im agine. Especially when I was the sole

beneficiary of his will and of the Perm aSlim form ula.”

“You don’t hav e any fam ily ?”

“One aunt. I see her once or twice a y ear.”

Brett swallowed the lum p in his throat as he processed Holly ’s

story . Fiv e sisters was a lot for any m an to handle, but at least he

had them . Fiv e, ov erbearing, bossy fem ales, all of whom lov ed him

unconditionally .

He reached to finger a loose tendril of her hair. “Life is full of

risks. You had no way of knowing what would happen.”

She sm iled tentativ ely . “Spoken like a true Nav y SEAL.

There’s probably not one thing in this world that scares y ou.”

He bit back a threatened grin. “Only one thing so far.”