Operation Swift Mercy (11 page)

The sound of the door sliding open behind her made her jump in alarm.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” Chase said. His voice was lazy from his nap and despite th
e chill of terror still lurking—ma
naged to send a swarm of butterflies into nervous flight inside her.

“That’s okay. I’m just a bit jumpy lately.”

“Understandable. It’s going to be alright though.”

Mercy shook her head. “It’s not Chase. It doesn’t matter what I do. He’s too powerful. He’s going to find me. All I can hope for is that I get that evidence to someone.”

She saw Chase’s jaw clench as he took a seat across from her and stared out over the ocean before them. “
I know you’re scared, but you have to trust us. We’re going to get you through this.”

She knew that he truly believed he could stop Nikkos. She had to smile at that—he was a good man and that kind of honourable, protective streak warmed her to the core…but it still didn’t change the fact that she knew Nikkos and knew what he was capable of. Chase wasn’t going to accept that though, so there was little point arguing with him about it.

Chapter
T
en

Dinner
with Maloney’s crew
was an experience Mercy hadn’t had before. Seated in a family friendly restaurant, Mercy found herself amused by the dynamics of the people gathered around the table. The four large, rugged looking men seemed out of place
among
families and small children—and yet they didn’t. Tate sat patiently
,
convincing his daughter to eat her food, while Summer spoon
fed Ruby
,
baby food.
Even Tupper was
relaxed. F
or all his complaining about the lack of his friends social lives,
he still held
conversations over the top of children banging cutlery and dropping food
with barely a bat of an eye
.

The type of
outings Mercy went to had
not
involved small children
,
and Nikkos would never lower himself to eat in such a modest family environment
like
this place…it almost felt like she’d stepped into some alternate universe.

“I hope we don’t scare you off with all this
,
Mercy,” Summer said, as she handed over a squirming child to her husband. “I vaguely remember
a time
when I could eat a meal while it was still hot…kind of,” she winced.

“You’re already tougher than I was. There was a time not so long ago that I would have done anything
,
to avoid coming out to dinner with the three ring circus here,” Willow smiled across at her, indicating toward her sister and childre
n. “So Mercy, what’s your story?
” Willow asked her with a friendly, yet direct look.

“My story?”

“Everyone has one,” she shrugged.

“I’m afraid mine’s pretty dull.”

“No such thing as a dull life story—you just got to find an angle,” she grinned.

“Come on Willow—she survived eating with the wild Maddox kids—don’t scare her off with the scary reporter act,” Chase cut in smoothly.

Willow scoffed, reaching for her glass of wine, her head tipping slightly to one side as she seemed to consider Mercy for a minute. “You know, you have a very familiar face. Have we met somewhere before?”

Mercy swallowed nervously and dropped her gaze to her own wine glass briefly.
Crap.
Had she seen her photograph in the paper at some point? “I don’t think so.”

“Hmm, I never forget a face…it’ll come to me eventually!” she declared with a smile.

Mercy glanced sideways at Chase with a ‘
oh great!’
expression
.
“So are you all organised? With the wedding and everything?”
S
he added hoping to distract her.

It worked, thankfully.

“I swear, we should have just gone with the eloping thing. This is madness!”

“You’re the one who wanted a wedding,” Del reminded her and Mercy’s gaze dropped to the arm he had resting across the back of Willow’s chair casually
.
A small catch caught in her throat as she saw the look that passed between the two. They were crazy about each other, that much was obvious, but there was more—there was something beneath that, a respect for one another…trust. How could she have believed what she’d had with Nikkos had been a real relationship? They’d never had this. Sadness crept inside her as she realised everything she’d shared with the man had been such a shallow copy of real love.

As they prepared to walk
back to the motel
, Mercy managed to talk to Chase privately as the
others assembled
children and paid bills. “I don’t think this is going to work,” she murmured quietly.

“What won’t work?”

“This,” Mercy, flapped her hand between them. “Willow’s already curious. She’s going to work out eventually that I’m just some stranger you found, and become suspicious about what I’m doing here.”

Chase was quiet for a while as he considered her words. “You’re right. So we better make it look a bit more convincing.” Before Mercy had time to ask what he meant by that, he lowered his head and kissed her. At the first touch of his lips, Mercy went into semi-shock. She should have pulled away—she should have pushed him away and told him she didn’t approve of him taking matters into his own hands like this…but she didn’t. She kissed him back. The hands that should have gone to his chest to push him away, instead
clenched at his shirt and held her upright.

When at last Chase eased back, it took a few moments for Mercy to realise they were standing in the middle of the footpath. People walked around them, a few chuckled, but Mercy didn’t really register any of it. All she could focus on was the fact that her lips tingled in a way they never had before and she was frozen to the spot.

“I think that should set Willow’s mind at ease,” Chase said, his voice sounding deeper and a little huskier than usual.

Trying to regain a fraction of her composure, Mercy managed a brisk nod. “Umm, yes. That should do it. Good thinking.”

“Come on, we need to get off the street,” he said with a slight chuckle.

Looking around, she realised the others were now waiting for them on
the footpath
outside the restaurant
.
Judging by the discreet
grins Willow
and Summer
were exchanging, the little performance had worked.

The weight of Chase’s arm around her waist was not uncomfortable, it was distracting, but didn’t feel unnatural—it felt altogether too good. They didn’t talk during the short walk back t
o
the motel, but she was well aware of Chase, as he kept her securely tucked beside him.

Entering the foyer of the resort, Chase held her back as the elevator arrived.

“You guys coming up for a coffee?” Summer asked.

“I think we’ll just go back to the room,” Chase turned down the offer
with a casual smile.

“Oh, I see…got better things to do huh?” Willow teased
.

Mercy was sure her face had turned an unflattering shade of red at that, but bit down on the urge to deny it. They were supposed to be putting up a believable front after all. If only she could ignore the sarcastic little voice in her head that seemed to be laughing at her protest.

“I’m sure you guys understand,” Chase smirked.

Mercy gave him a light pinch on the side in warning, while summoning a smile. There was no need to push it!

He
smiled down at her with an
innocent looking grin
that
she didn’t believe for a minute, pulling her closer to his side.

“Okay lovebirds, we’ll expect you at breakfast though. It’s action stations and all hands on deck tomorrow. I’ll be handing out the final list of jobs and if you’re not there—I’m coming looking for you,” Willow smiled sweetly, but Mercy got the impression she wasn’t kidding.

“Yes Ma’am,” Chase saluted with his other hand. “We’ll be there.”

They stepped into the opposite lift, and Mercy let out a long breath as the doors swooshed shut and silence descended. Her relief lasted only long enough to realise that she was now all alone with the man who had just kissed her senseless a few short moments ago. Yep, all…alone…

Chase still had his arm around her, and Mercy was conscious of the heat his body seemed to radiate against hers. The heady scent of male aftershave caught her attention, making her swallow nervously. The lift glided to a stop and Chase dropped his arm from her waist as he exited before her. He put his hand out to stop her moving out of the lift, looking up the hallway before taking her hand and leading her out. She missed the warmth of his body immediately, but the security of his
hand holding hers made up for it a little.

Outside the door to their room, Chase dropped her hand once more and indicated that she should wait while he went inside first. The room wasn’t large, so it only took a minute for him to slip inside and check the bathroom
, before opening the door for her to come inside.

“You didn’t have to turn down coffee with the others,” she said watching Chase open the glass sliding doors to let in some fresh air.

“Yeah I did,” he said, turning back to look at her. “You think they’d believe after kissing you like that I’d be patient enough to sit and politely sip coffee when I could be up here alone with you?”

The way he looked at her sent a surge of heat to places that hadn’t gotten that warm in a long time. “I guess that’s a point. It was pretty convincing.”

She saw his lips twitch slightly at that before he move
d
closer to her. “I don’t know…I don’t think Willow bought it that easy…I think we should probably work on it—you know, to make sure it looks convincing next time.”

Mercy
’s
heart rate
pick up as she stared at his mouth, remembering how warm and strong it had felt against her own earlier.
Slowly he tilted
her chin
back and lowered his head.

The k
iss started out soft, a probing
question, but suddenly, Mercy wanted more. She’d nearly died. If that fall had been any higher—she could be dead r
ight now. That kind of thought d
i
d
strange things to a person. It was almost as though her body was overriding her l
ogical, usually sensible brain, reminding it that life was precious. There was a man—an honest to God, good man kissing her and she needed to go with that—not run away like a scaredy cat.

Mercy deepened the kiss, and it was like stepping into a
whole
new dimension of sensation. It seemed to be the only signal Chase had been waiting for and he didn’t seem to need much more encouragement to take it further. His hands roamed up her side, coming to settle briefly on her hips, tugging her forward, so she could feel the solid length of him in delicious detail.

A small moan escaped as his tongue duelled with her own and he
angled
his head for better access. The sound sparked an instant reaction inside him and without warning he lifted her by the hips until she straddled him, within minutes he’d braced her against the wall and had left her lips to trail hot, wet, kisses down the length of her neck, tugging at the hem of her t-shirt until she managed to untangle her arms from around his neck to help remove it.

“You are so beautiful,” he whispered hoarsely
against her mouth, as he struggled with the clasp of her bra behind her back.

Slapping his hands away, she impatiently took over the job
. S
he was on fire. Everywhere he touched seemed to be burning
—a
ching for his touch. It was too much—she couldn’t believe this was
her
. She’d never been this wanton before—so desperate to be consumed by a man in all her life.

Uttering words she’d never believed she’d be brave enough to say out loud, she knew she should be horrified by this seemingly out of character transformation, but she couldn’t even take time to ponder it
,
there was just no room inside her head for logical thought—there was just need…hot, throbbing, reckless need.

Chapter
Eleven

The suite was its usual hive of activity,
the next morning when they came down. C
hildren were being fed, clothes and toys were scattered through the room and the kitche
ne
tte had the remnants of the breakfast rush still covering the benches.

“Good
,
Maloney, you’re here. I need you
and Tupper to go and pick up the
table decorations and then
collect my editor from the airport on the way back.”