True Love Lost (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 3)) (50 page)

“If I get anymore impounds that are abandoned, should I bring them by the
sheriff’s office first?”

Elizabeth shook his hand. “
Just give us a call and we can come to you.” Out came the card with her contact information, and she offered it to the man.

“Okay.”

Both Blackhawks left the building, and outside Elizabeth spoke. “How’s the list look?”

“We have our victims on here, this is going to get the rest, I’d bet lunch on it.”

Elizabeth grinned. “I tell you what, Cowboy. I’ll buy you lunch and you can buy me dinner.”

“Deal.”

Whitefox was getting nervous. Never in his life had he brought a woman home sober, and with the intent of keeping her in his house for more than some sweaty quick sex. Usually it was get drunk, pick a woman, bring her home, and hope she had the common sense to be gone when he woke up. Like his brother, there’d been a string of regrettable women in his life, and now he
believed he found the one he needed to work on keeping.

It wasn’t like he wanted that kind of relationship with women. He just didn’t know how to relate to them.
The only experience he had was what he saw growing up, and his mother was a pretty shitty example. Now he was watching his brother with Elizabeth and trying to learn on the fly.

Growing up
impoverished, he and Ethan had been challenged early in life. They joked about the Rez now, but it wasn’t funny as a child. In fact it was hard to swallow when he thought back to it. Their grandfather did the best he could, even when his mom would choose partying over working for a living. So, things in his life weren’t elaborate even today. Granddad gave them stability, food, and clothing. The rest they had to work for, or ‘appropriate’ creatively. Now that he was bringing Desdemona to his home after just being in hers, he felt a little uneasy about what she’d think about it. As he pulled up to the house, his truck was in place, and everything looked exactly as it did as he left three days ago.

“We’re here,” he said, putting the Denali into park. “It’s not as big as your home, but it’s all mine
.” Whitefox tried to reassure himself, hoping it wouldn’t be a huge disappointment to the woman sitting beside him.

Desdemona released his hand and hopped out
of the Denali, she began wandering towards the house just taking it all in. There were trees surrounding it, tall trees that had been alive for many years. There was a porch that sat facing them, and she wished she had the seclusion of trees around her home. When you grew up surrounded by nature, you missed it when it was replaced with concrete.

Whitefox quickly grabbed her suitcase and rushed after her.

Desdemona walked up onto the porch, and there was a table made out of wood, and she wished it wasn’t winter. It would be the perfect place to just sit and enjoy the silence. All in all, she’d trade her house for his log cabin any day.

“Did you build it?” she asked, running her hands over the table and then leaning against the rail of the porch.

“I didn’t build the house, my granddad had it built for me. When Ethan left the Rez and went off to the FBI, he sent granddad money to upkeep his home, and when there was more money than he needed, he built me mine. So I guess technically it’s Ethan’s house, but he wouldn’t ever live on the Rez, unless it was by gunpoint or the last safe place on earth.”

“I think I’d live here in a heartbeat. I love the trees and the silence.
It just feels safe and secure. You can think here,” she said, watching him. “Why do you have that look on your face? Did I say something bad?”

His first instinct was to lie and cover the look, but he tried f
or something new with a woman- the truth. “I just wondered what you’d think of my home. Yours is very different.”

“I like yours better
. Want to trade?” she laughed. “Mine comes with a stalker- free of charge as an added bonus.”

Whitefox laughed. “Yeah, we can trade but
we better get you a tan so you blend in, you don’t exactly scream Native American.” He held out his hand for her. “Come on, I’ll get you inside. It’s cold out here.” Whitefox unlocked the door and dropped her suitcase beside the wall and held the door open for her. Then it occurred to him, he was bringing a vegetarian who dealt with death into a house with deer heads, animal skins and… crap.

“Uh Desi, it didn’t occur to me until now that there’s animal heads on my wall.”

“You mean someone snuck in and hung them there while you were gone?” she asked, laughing at him. “You should call the police and tell them there’s a random serial decorator in your neighborhood.”

That caught him off guard. “I mean,”
Whitefox actually blushed and continued, “You don’t eat meat and here you have animals I hunted and ate, watching you.”

She walked into his living space and like his brother
’s it was warm. It had lots of Native American colors, patterns and yes, there were the animals. “Callen, I don’t mind that they’re there. You ate them; they didn’t die just to be a trophy. People have to eat. I don’t eat meat because of the job I do. Before I was an ME I did like meat. I still will eat seafood if need be.”

He relaxed. 

“Is that bear skin?” She pointed at the rug under his coffee table.

“Uh y
es.” He cringed as she walked over and knelt down to run her fingers over the fur. “I always wondered what one would feel like,” she asked smiling. “You can’t touch the one in the zoo. Apparently when they post the sign ‘don’t feed the bears’ they mean it.”

Her smile was enormous
, contagious, and she was funny when they were alone.

“It’s a little different when you’ve seen him running at you and
you’re his next snack, I guess. I didn’t really think ‘oh let me pet him’. I was thinking more ‘
don’t get eaten by the big angry bear’
,” he laughed as she wandered around his room. When she stopped at his wall with shotguns on it, he was curious to see what she’d do.

“May I?” she asked
, before touching it.

He walked over and pulled the shot gun down for her.

Desdemona was accustomed to shotguns, the one her grand-mère had was similar. She popped it open to see if it was loaded. “Loaded gun on the wall, Callen?” Desdemona grinned up at him. “Living dangerously huh?”

His heart skipped a beat as he watched the sight before him. Here was this little woman, holding his shotgun and actually looking like she knew how to use one. “Are you familiar?” he asked, watching to make sure she didn’t accidentally shoot him or her.

“I’m better with a shotgun than a handgun, believe it or not,” she smiled. “I’m a decent shot,” she added.

This intrigued him. “Really?”

“You doubt me?” she inquired, laughing. “Do I need to prove it to you?” She loved a challenge. In medical school when the male students doubted her, it made her work that much harder.

“Well
if you must you must.” The good ole’ boy grin said it all. Whitefox wandered to his fridge, grabbing a six pack of beer and six soda cans. “Ammo is on the shelf, join me outside.”

Desdemona was laughing. “I hope we aren’t shooting at the beer, that just seems like a horrible waste if alcohol.”

“That’s for drinking, the soda is for shooting. When we Blackhawks target shoot, we like to live on the edge and mix beer into the situation. We’re crazy like that.” Now he was laughing too. “It’s not much fun with Elizabeth being pregnant. She wins all the time when Ethan and I get drunk. Then again, she can outshoot me sober, so I guess it doesn’t really matter.”

She followed him out, and they both stood on the porch.

“I’ll set them up. You just don’t point that at me until I’m back.” He ran off through the snow and set the cans up on a log he and his brother had just used a few weeks ago. “Okay,” he trotted back. “Let the shooting begin!”

Desdemona grinned up at him. “You give your first dates loaded guns all the time?”

“No way! I usually don’t know their names. I sure as hell don’t want them to have a gun.” He laughed and blushed that he actually said it out loud.

“Callen, relax and don’t screw up the date
. You don’t get a re-do on a re-do,” she laughed. “It would be the date that never ends!”

“The
official
date hasn’t begun yet, but thanks for the warning.” Being around her was easy. When she smiled at him, actually found himself grinning back. “Okay, six cans, you have two shots per load. First two cans are yours. If you miss, I get whatever I want.”

She laughed. “Yeah, well I bet it’s going to be sex related.
I’m betting that’s not the wager when it’s you, Ethan and Elizabeth.”

Callen’s body clenched at the idea of that being the prize.
He wished many a night it had been. “No, we go hardcore and shoot for cash, but for you the ante is sex.” He winked at her.

“Okay, if I get them both?”

“Then I have to make the next two, or you get what you want?”

She thought about it. “You’re going to go vegetarian for an entire week.”

He looked appalled. “Seriously? That’s a hardcore bet.”

Desdemona sat on the rail of the porch and cracked open a beer, taking a long sip. “Hell yeah, Special Agent Whitefox. You aren’t going to touch meat for a full week. I sincerely hope you like salad.”

Callen was grinning like an idiot. “I’ve been hunting since I was ten. You are going to be putting out, Desdemona. On the first date too,” he snickered and cracked open his own beer.

“That goes to show you
. I already put out and wasn’t even dating you,” she answered, laughing.

Whitefox opened his mouth and then just started laughing. She had a point
and anything he could say might be construed the wrong way. Again, zipping it to preserve the first date re-do.

“Callen, are you sure you want to do this?” she wanted to warn him and give him a shot to back out.
“A full week without meat is a long time for a carnivore.”

“No way, I’m looking forward to
making you put out again, but this time naked on the bear rug.” The idea drove him wild. Pale delicious Desdemona naked on the bearskin he hunted down. It made him feel like a caveman and primitive.

When she finished her beer, she placed the can on the table beside her and hopped down. If she lost the bet, she’d willingly have sex with him in a snow bank, who was she
kidding? The man was sexy and he made her all warm and wild. But he didn’t need to know that, and watching him eat salad for a week was going to be priceless.

Desdemona took the gun from him, and closed it. Aimed at one of the two cans in the middle, and took her first shot. It exploded and left a spray of brown all over the white snow. She looked over at him and grinned. “Lettuce, carrots and peppers
-oh my.”

He laughed and finished his beer, opening two more. It was funny that some outsider doctor was challenging a
Native in shooting. “One more shot, Desi. Don’t miss, or you’re going to be on top.” He tried to rattle her, and hoped he did. Picturing her riding him was so erotic he felt his body tighten.

She aimed, and pulled the trigger. The second can exploded, like the first and flew through the air. “I don’t miss, Callen.” Desdemona opened the gun, popped out the cartridges in one fluid motion and took the two in his hand. “Your turn
.” Desdemona exchanged places with him, and couldn’t help but watch his form. He was incredibly sexy, and she couldn’t wait to climb all over him.

“What are you thinking about,” he asked, as he took his first shot. The can exploded and fell off the log.

Desi waited for the right moment. “Thinking about being on top and enjoying the ride,” she said innocently, just as he aimed and fired.

It missed the can and hit just below on the log.

Whitefox looked over fast. Unsure if she was teasing him to screw with him, or if she was completely serious. If she was serious, he didn’t mind losing to her. It meant he’d still get the prize. The look on his face must have given him away.

“
Very serious,” she answered, and his reaction was priceless. Desdemona walked over, taking the gun from his hand. Standing really close to him, and ran her hand up the front of his body. Even with a jacket on, she could feel that Callen Whitefox was well defined.

“Don’t tease, Desi,” he
stated, earnestly. He had their first date planned and sex was on the menu, but not until later. This was about seducing the woman and making her see that they were meant to be. He would put her first, even if it was complete torture.

Desdemona wasn’t teasing, she felt brave. Reaching up, she placed her hand on the back of his neck, and pulled him down to her lips. “I was serious,” she whispered, kissing him slow and smoothly. They both tasted like beer, and it was both erotic and enticing. When she felt him pressing excitedly against her body, she deepened the kiss. Then she felt the power she had over him, and it intoxicated her. The man really did want her.
Now she had to not screw it up.