Spirit of Danger Read online

  For a moment Finley gripped the doorknob. Whoever or whatever made her cry had to die.

  Merida hurriedly wiped at her cheeks with the back of her phone holding hand.

  “This isn’t a good time,” she said.

  “I’ll say. What happened?” He pulled out his own phone, bringing up the camera app and focusing on the closet door.

  The obvious culprit sat there, pouring more water on her floor.

  He reached back to where the emergency shut-off valve should be and found a stump.

  Well, now he knew where the handle had come from.

  This was going to be a mess.

  He could probably get the water off, but Merida came first. She would always be his priority.

  Finley turned toward her. She sat shivering in an inch deep lake. Judging by how much water there was it was safe to say this had been going on a while.

  “Come on.” He grabbed her by the wrist and stood, hauling her with him.

  Her teeth chattered and he could see her struggling to put a brave face on. He liked Merida’s strength, but sometimes she could be unnecessarily stubborn when it came to accepting help. He’d long since learned that sometimes he just had to do stuff for her.

  “Get yourself dry while I stop this,” he said.

  “I could have handled it if this hadn’t broken off.” She waved the bit of busted metal under his nose.

  “I know.”

  He pulled his multi-tool from his pocket. The thing never stopped being useful, so he’d never stopped carrying it. He unfolded the tool and crouched down, using the pliers to grasp the tiny bit of metal post sticking out. It was a squeeze to reach around the water heater positioned the way it was, but eventually he got a good grip and twisted.

  The spout of water began trickling off. He kept twisting, occasionally losing his grip, but eventually he got the thing shut off. Of course he was half soaked by then, but it was just water.

  “There.” He sat back on his heels and glanced up at Merida.

  She hadn’t moved.

  Her teeth chattering was worse.

  “Damn it’s cold in here.” He kicked the front door shut and flipped the lights on.

  “Is that smart? Couldn’t we get electrocuted?”

  He snorted. “It wouldn’t surprise me if it was wired that poorly.”

  After a few months of living in the duplex, he’d understood why rent was as cheap as it was. The place was a mess of problems, but it was convenient and most of the time it was easier to fix things himself than go through getting their landlord to deal with it.

  Finley blew on his hands to try to get a bit of the feeling back while peering around.

  “Looks like the carpet’s soaked to about there.” He pointed to an easily identified line in the cream colored carpet that ran under her dining table.

  At a glance it didn’t appear that anything of hers was damaged. He didn’t give a rat’s ass about the duplex. It wasn’t their responsibility.

  “Christ it’s cold. Is something wrong with your heater?”

  Merida groaned and sloshed through her kitchen over to where the thermostat was. “It’s set at seventy, but the temperature is sixty two.”

  She jabbed at the buttons and he listened for any sound of the heater kicking on.

  Nothing.

  She leaned forward and thunked her forehead against the wall. “Great. Just what I needed today.”

  “Change and go to my place. My heater hasn’t been acting up the way yours has.”

  “But,” she turned and gestured at the lake in her house, “what about all this?”

  “I’ll handle it.”

  “That’s not your job.”

  “Sure it is. It’s what friends do. We help each other.” He managed to say the words with a smile. What he really wanted to do was bundle her up, leave this mess for the landlord and take her to his place to warm up in a much more enjoyable way. But seeing as he didn’t think Merida would appreciate that he’d go the friends route instead.

  “I can’t let you do that, Finley.”

  “Too bad.”

  They stared at each other for a moment. She’d gone and gotten mad, not necessarily at him but he was the easy target of that wrath.

  “Oh, you stubborn man. Fine. Clean up my house. Do whatever you want. See if I care.” She turned and stalked down the hall toward her bedroom.

  He wisely waited to laugh until she’d ducked through the door.

  In half an hour, at most, she’d grumble an apology and it would be over. She was so used to being the person to handle things that she didn’t take not being the person with solutions well.

  Finley let himself out and circled around back to the shed. He’d scored one of the old Shop-Vacs from work and so long as he kept it cleaned out it worked fine for occasional use. By the time he made it back to her front door Merida was gone and her side of the duplex empty.

  He smiled to himself as he began cleaning up the water. It wasn’t often he got to take care of Merida. He cherished these odd moments because to him they were special. In his own way he got to show her how much he cared about her, prickly thorns and all. He just wished she cared about him in the same way.

  After two-plus-years something should have happened between them if it was ever going to. He was a fool for holding out hope.

  Who knew? Maybe this water fiasco would cause her to move and then things would be over. He’d lose his best friend, but maybe he could also live again. Waiting on a woman to love him back wasn’t exactly a sane way to live, but then again no one had ever called him a smart man.

  2.

  Wednesday. Finley’s Home, Seattle, Washington.

  Merida paced around Finley’s living room. It was warmer on his side of the duplex than hers, but normally she’d be sweating at his place. She feared the heating units were on their last legs. At least she was getting feeling in her toes again.

  Part of her wanted to curl up on his sofa and use the fuzzy blanket she’d left at his place. Ignoring everything else would be a welcome respite. Already Melody had sent her a dozen messages about the ring and how surprised she was.

  Merida paced the width of the living room.

  She couldn’t just sit down and forget everything. That wasn’t like her.

  Besides, Melody would keep texting which meant Merida was going to continue to wallow in her feelings of self-pity all while Finley was right there. So close and yet out of reach.

  Their friendship wasn’t working. Nothing in her life was working right now.

  Not her friendship with Melody and sure as hell not her friendship with Finley.

  She shouldn’t have come over here, but he’d used that tone. The authoritative one that she secretly loved. For some reason when he said things all bossy like her insides melted and she gave in. Not often, but it was a guilty pleasure.

  She stalked back to where her phone was charging. There was still no answer from their landlord. No surprise there. She did have several other messages in various group chats she was part of, none of them urgent at least. Too bad muting some of them didn’t hide them.

  Merida sighed and decided to ignore the half dozen group chats she was in with various girlfriends and wives of the men who worked for Aegis Group. For some reason the guys all seemed to settle down with truly amazing women, which in turn enriched her life with wonderful people to call friend.

  Except around holidays when everyone else was talking about romantic get aways, getting engaged, making babies, holidays celebrating some new milestone. It only drove home how alone she was.

  The one chat she didn’t ignore was her Dangerous Ladies group. Those girls never failed to make Merida smile.

  While Aegis Group was known for a few things, hostage rescue being one of their hallmarks, they also did a variety of other security services. One of their smallest lines of business was their full-time security detail work, and smaller still were their female operative full-time details. Zain demanded a lot from th
e people they would place in the homes of their clients. Not many passed muster, but those who did were a special breed of person. And the women who fit the bill were even rarer. Currently there were five women on the roster with a waiting list for when they found more.

  Merida skimmed the messages. While they all agreed that the chat was an off-hours thing, she couldn’t turn the work part of her brain off. One of the women was packing up to accompany her client to Malta. Another was en route to Switzerland with her client for holiday skiing. She chuckled as she read over the collective grumbling over security concerns and how hard it was to keep tabs on clients decked out in snow gear.

  She tapped out her own moaning reply and sent it to the group.

  Came home to no heat and a flooded house. Guess who is going to get to sleep at the office tonight... #thisgirl

  Immediately little dots appeared at the bottom of the screen indicating at least one person was replying.

  Ivy: Um, what about #sexyneighbor?

  Haley: Call the hunky guy next door!

  Merida groaned, powered off the screen and buried her face against her folded arms.

  She should have never allowed herself to get tipsy and message. For one, it wasn’t professional. Despite their friendship, Merida was still occasionally in charge of issuing orders to the women. And second, she didn’t need anyone else knowing about her pining away for a man who only saw her as one of the guys. She’d liked it much better when no one else knew her secret.

  Then again she also liked having people who could appreciate her sneaky snapshots of Finley.

  The front door opened and shut with a bang. She winced, picked up her head and peered toward the entry.

  “Get me a towel, will you?” Finley asked her standing on the matt just inside the door.

  “How bad was it?” She hustled down the hall to the linen closet and grabbed a ratty towel. One of the ones set aside for post-work clean-up. It was tattered and had grease stains, so it didn’t matter if it got mud or whatever else on it now.

  He took the towel from her and wiped his boots off then eased his feet out of them. “Biggest damage is going to be to the kitchen. I think the cabinets are pretty soaked and being particle board, well... None of your stuff appears wet though. I did move the dining table and chairs into the middle of the living room so they’re safe.”

  “Landlord isn’t answering.”

  Finley grunted his reply.

  She covered her face again with her hands.

  Like she needed this on top of the rest of her week.

  “It’s going to be okay.” He was standing right next to her. She hadn’t heard him move.

  “It’s just one more thing.” She massaged her temples.

  “What else is happening?” He leaned an elbow against the counter. He stood close enough they almost touched. If he were anyone else, this would be far too close, but it was him and his presence comforted her.

  “What isn’t?” She groaned. “I told Zain I could hold down the fort so he could actually go see his family over the holidays. Most of them haven’t seen his wife since the wedding, the rest haven’t even met her. Now it just seems like everything is going wrong.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Just—everything. I have a team stranded in Atlanta. I’ve spent the whole day on the phone to three different embassies trying to get a client home with all the proper allowances. Then the building manager tells me today they need to put in new fiber optic cabling because of some accident. It doesn’t affect us, but it does mean I need more people on site over the holidays for the install because of security concerns. I’ve got two wives up my ass about their husband’s schedules, which is so not my fault. They didn’t tell their wives. That’s not on me, but I have to smooth it over. And there’s more. This was just what I spent my afternoon working on.”

  “Come here.” Finley tugged on her arm.

  She closed her eyes and didn’t budge.

  He was going to hug her. One of those tight, let me help you hugs. She wasn’t strong enough for this right now. She’d had a rough day and the rest of the week was going to be just as tough until they were through the New Year.

  Finley tugged on her again, only this time there was no ignoring him. He was just too darn strong and she didn’t honestly want to resist him.

  He gathered her into his arms and turned her so she had him on one side and the kitchen counter on the other. He knew just how tight to squeeze. It felt like he was holding her together so she didn’t have to.

  Merida gave in, closed her eyes and laid her head on his shoulder.

  Most of the time she did just fine on her own. But there were days where she wanted to come home to someone who would listen to her, have her back and let her lean on their shoulder. For a while she’d been content with her friendship with Finley being just that. But the truth was she wanted more. For herself.

  Watching all the guys at work settle down and move on to new chapters in their lives made her want the same thing.

  She could pinpoint the change.

  Back during the summer she’d gone to South Africa to see one of their guys marry his sweetheart. The whole trip had left her off-kilter. She’d spent so long alone because that was what worked. But now she could have more, only the more she wanted wasn’t a more she could have.

  Finley’s fingers pressed into the tense muscles across her shoulders, finding them with ease.

  Why did he have to be her neighbor?

  Why did he have to be her best friend?

  She breathed in a deep breath of man and soap. Every day he showered at the garage before heading home. He was meticulous about cleanliness. How many times had she watched him clean his nails because he didn’t like even that bit of grime?

  Slowly her muscles turned to goo. Bit by bit his touch relaxed her. She knew the hug was stretching on ridiculously long, way past acceptable friendly lengths. It just felt too good to have him there with his arms around her.

  A buzzing sound penetrated the fog. She hauled her brain back to reality long enough to classify the notification sound.

  The chat messenger.

  The other girls were likely chiming in.

  Well, she didn’t want their feedback. She knew what they’d say.

  Go for it.

  It was easy for them. Their female team members rarely got to stay in one place for long. If they didn’t seize the moment, they didn’t get what they wanted. And they were experts at getting what they wanted.

  “You need to get that?”

  With her ear pressed to his chest his voice was a deep rumble she not only heard, but felt. The vibrations seemed to sink into her bones, making every cell in her body aware of him.

  Yeah, this needed to stop.

  “No,” she replied and picked up her head, opening her eyes.

  She froze.

  Finley’s face was so close to her own. She could see tiny scars on the left side of his face, scars that weren’t usually easy to see. His gaze was focused on hers, all that alpha man, I’ll take care of everything, staring back at her.

  And she wanted to let him take care of her. But not in the way he meant. Not in the way she wanted.

  This had to stop. Pining over the one man she couldn’t have was doing her more harm than good. This just wasn’t working.

  After Christmas she was moving. It would be easy to blame it on all the problems with the house. No one would fault her. But in reality, she’d move to get away from him. From this attraction that kept her up at night, frustrated beyond belief.

  She leaned away from him, only to find herself trapped between him and the kitchen counter.

  Finley didn’t move. His hands and body had her caged while he simply watched her.

  Did he know? Did he have any idea how she felt about him?

  She wanted to kiss him like she had a thousand times in her dreams.

  He tucked a bit of errant hair behind her ear. In her mind that was a gentle caress, a gestu
re that meant more than her hair had gone crazy frizzy in this rain.

  “Merida?”

  Was it her imagination or was his voice rougher than normal?

  “Hm?” She wasn’t doing a great job using words at the moment.

  “I need to tell you something.”

  Her heart did painful flip-flops in her chest.

  The intense way he stared at her made her fear the next words out of his mouth. Whatever they were, that wrinkle at the corner of his mouth made her think she wasn’t going to like it.

  “Can it wait?” Her gaze dropped to his mouth.

  She couldn’t keep being friends, no matter how much he’d grown to be an integral part of her life. She just couldn’t keep doing this. It was torture and unfair to him, because some day he was going to break her heart and not know it.

  Merida knew she’d already made up her mind. A thrill of excitement shot through her, giving her the last little oomph she needed to take what she wanted.

  She leaned in, closing that inch or so of space and kissed him. The first touch was electrifying. A jolt of sensation shot through her, making it feel as though she’d never truly been more alive and awake than she was right now. She moved her lips, exploring him.

  This was likely her only chance to ever have this, however brief this dream was.

  Finley’s hand cupped her face.

  She squeezed her eyes shut, wanting to draw the dream out, to pretend he was holding her.

  And then his lips moved and his fingers curled into her hair. He didn’t pull away, he kissed her back. He tugged on her hair, tilting her face to the side. His tongue teased her.

  Merida’s heart pounded. What was going on? Had she passed out? Was this a dream?

  If it was, she didn’t want it to stop. If she was passed out on the floor, may she live forever in this happy bubble of her mind.

  Finley’s knee pushed between hers, his thigh forcing her legs apart a bit. She sucked in air and clung to his shoulders. Her whole body seemed to pulse with need for him. For ages she’d harbored this crush, wanting him, and now it was everything she could do to get closer, drink him in.

  He sucked her lower lip between his. She gasped as she felt the sensation lower in her body. He seemed to know, to sense what she needed and rocked against her, his muscular thigh rubbing her through the yoga pants she’d thrown on. His hand boldly cupped her ass, urging her closer.