Chapter 23
CHAPTER 23
CALLUM
Sleep and I had long been uneasy allies. Too many years on ops and too much training kept me from sleeping deep or long, and that had only gotten worse with my retirement. I couldn’t remember the last time I hadn’t been awake before sunrise, so when I opened my eyes to sunlight, I thought I was still dreaming. The warm weight wrapped around me like a koala only added to the sensation. With a sigh, I turned my head, burying my face in hair that smelled of my shampoo. As it was a far cry better than what usually occupied my dreams, I lay there, content to drift as long as it lasted.
Only when my companion shifted, pressing a cold nose against my shoulder, did I realize I wasn’t dreaming.
Parker.
Parker had spent the night in my bed. And I’d… slept. Not the whole night. I’d gotten up once to swap the laundry I’d started before bed over to the dryer, so she’d have something to wear home that wasn’t covered in trail muck. But otherwise, I’d slept and hadn’t stirred.
It had been a long time since I’d had anyone in my bed. Not since before the accident. I’d never brought a woman here—for sex or anything else. But that indefinably intimate scent of sleep- warmed skin was doing things to me beyond inspiring a whole host of erotic ways I could wake her. It was making me imagine what it would be like to have this every day.
How the hell had we gotten here?
How had this walking ball of sunshine ended up all warm and cozy beside me in a completely platonic way? I thought of what she’d said last night about being too tired to take advantage of me. I didn’t think she was joking about wanting to take advantage. So maybe not so completely platonic. Still. What had I done to deserve any of this? To deserve her?
I didn’t know exactly where this was going. We hadn’t formally defined things, though she hadn’t balked at my allusion at dinner the other night that I didn’t consider myself single anymore. Given she had no problem calling me out on anything else, I wanted that to mean she wanted this. Wanted me. For… whatever it was we were doing. But I didn’t want to push for too much, too fast.
I thought about getting up, getting started on my day. Removing myself from the temptation she presented. But I didn’t move a muscle. She’d told me her body needed extra rest after major exertion, and yesterday had been a lot. I’d let her sleep as long as she wanted. There was the small matter of it being a workday, and I’d need to get her back to her flat to change, at the very least, but I was the boss, damn it. If I couldn’t grant lenience, what was the point? I’d get shit from Finn and Alex, but I didn’t give a damn about that. So long as they directed it at me instead of Parker.
The dappled sun had crept further across the room by the time an alarm sounded from the other room. Her mobile phone, probably. Parker’s head jerked against my shoulder and she groaned, curling tighter against me. “Five more mins,” she slurred.
Unfortunately, given the phone’s position, the alarm only continued to sound. Falkor popped up from the blanket I’d left folded on the floor last night and crossed over to nose at Parker’s back. She whimpered.
My little sunshine wasn’t a morning person. At least not straight out of bed. I stroked my fingers along her upper arm and brushed a kiss over her temple. “Time to get up, Hobbit. We’ve got work.”
She moaned again in protest, and Falkor whined.
“Himself needs to go out. I’ll take him.”
“M’kay.”
I carefully extricated myself, and Parker rolled into the warm spot and snuggled in. She’d be asleep again in less than thirty seconds. I’d give her as long as I could.
“Come on, lad. Let’s go do your business.”
With a quick detour to turn off the alarm on Parker’s phone, I headed out back with Falkor. He didn’t dally, finding a spot at the far edge of the garden, then trotting back, his tail waving like a banner. To give Parker a few more minutes of shuteye, I started the coffee and retrieved her clothes from the dryer. As predicted, she’d slid right back to sleep, sprawled on her stomach across my side of the bed.
Crouching down, I brushed the hair back from her face. “Rise and shine, Hobbit.”
Her eyes were slow to open, and when they focused on me, I didn’t just see fatigue. I saw a haze of pain. A furrow dug between her eyes, and the corners of her mouth pulled into a grimace.
“You okay?”
“Ugh.”
“Having a flare?”
She blinked, frowning harder. “Yeah.”
I’d been afraid of this. “Okay. What do you need?”
“Give me a minute or ten to see if my legs are going to work.”
Everything in me wanted to panic at that. To bundle her up and take her to the nearest doctor. But she’d warned me that this happened sometimes. It would pass. Eventually.
I eased back to give her space, moving over to crank the radiator because I remembered that heat helped. Falkor took my place by the bedside as she slowly, painfully, pushed herself vertical. By the time she made it upright, her hair a mess about her shoulders, she was breathing almost as hard from the exertion as she had from hiking yesterday. I desperately wanted to help, but I was also a little afraid to touch her like this, so I curled my fingers to keep from reaching for her.
“Brace,” she croaked.
Falkor locked his stance, and she used him to lever herself to her feet. She stayed where she was, swaying a little for seconds that felt like minutes.
“I need to get to the rug in the living room.”
I had no idea why, but I wasn’t about to argue, so I made sure the way was clear. At least it gave me something to do for a minute or two. She and the dog made their slow, careful way into the lounge.
“Can you scoot the coffee table over?”
I did as she asked, making space in front of the couch. With another whimper, she slowly lowered herself to the floor and stretched out flat.
“What are you doing?”
With a gentle tap, she dismissed Falkor and bent her knees, easing them to one side while her back remained on the floor. “Yoga. Torture. They’re kind of one and the same when I’m in this state. But I’ll be better if I move.”
“Ah.” What else could I say? “Do you want breakfast after? I’ve got coffee started.”
“Coffee sounds great. We’re going to be late for work.”
“Well, you’ve got an in with one of the bosses. It’ll be fine. Alex can cover.”
I moved into the kitchen to pour a cup of coffee, so she didn’t feel like I was staring. Then I sent a quick text.
Callum
Parker isn’t feeling well and is going to be late. Can you open today?
I wasn’t even sure she’d be in at all, but I didn’t add that yet. This was her call to make.
Alex
Got it.
I sent up a grateful prayer that I hadn’t needed to tag in Finn. He’d have been on deck to help as well, but he wouldn’t have done it without more questions on the front end.
I drank down half a cup of coffee as Parker pushed herself through some gentle stretches. It was obvious she was in a lot of pain, but I bloody well wasn’t going to keep commenting on it. I knew how much I felt like a freak when people got focused on my eye and couldn’t seem to look away. I didn’t want to do that to her.
By the end of the yoga, she was moving a little better.
“I got your clothes washed. I know you’ll want to change before work, but at least you don’t have to put on something that’s still muddy.”
“Oh, great. I’m going to need another shower. I need you to get me back to my place. I’ve got meds there that might help.”
Might. Christ. But I kept my tone even. “Okay. We can do that.”
While she got dressed, I put her coffee in a travel mug for the drive. I didn’t think we had time for me to make something here. Maybe I could pick up breakfast from the bakery while she had that shower. She sipped her coffee slowly as I headed into the village. The haze of pain hovered over her, dimming everything about her. It worried me, and it took everything I had not to ask a lot of questions. I didn’t want to upset her or make her feel pressured.
As I turned onto the high street, she finally lifted her head. “Is there an actual dog groomer in town? Because I think maybe we made a mistake not brushing him last night. He’s got all kinds of snarls in his fur.”
“We’ll find one.” I’d drive him wherever I had to so she didn’t have to spend limited energy on it.
I parked by the kerb and got out of the Range Rover. I’d just opened her door and was about to help her out, when I caught motion in my periphery. Someone was lurking in her doorway. Instinct propelled me into motion, and before I even registered what was happening, I had the lurker pinned against the wall, my forearm across their throat. A moment’s glimpse of furious dark eyes, before fingers jabbed hard into my armpit. Pain shot through my shoulder and down the back of my arm, but I didn’t loosen my hold.
“What the actual hell?” The words came from Parker, and I froze.
So did my captive.
I finally looked at her. Because it was a woman I had pinned to the wall. One I recognized from photos in Parker’s flat.
“Jade?” Parker’s tone was a mix of shock and joy and resignation. “Holy shit. Callum, let her go.”
I instantly backed off. I wasn’t in the habit of accosting women. Even women who evidently had the skills to defend themselves. “Apologies.”
Jade offered one fulminating look at me before her focus zeroed in on Parker. An equally complex mix of emotions flitted across her face—frustration and worry and pleasure, before finally landing on understanding. She instantly moved to Parker’s side. “How bad?”
“Like maybe a 6.5. Down from 8.”
I could only assume this was some sort of pain scale they’d developed.
“All right. Let’s get you inside.”
Somehow I was made instantly superfluous to the efforts to get her upstairs and into her apartment. I could only bring up the rear, feeling utterly helpless as Jade took over, clearly knowing exactly what to do. And while I was glad someone knew how to help her… I wanted it to be me.
Upstairs, Jade took in the flat at a single glance before steering Parker toward the bathroom. “Into the bath with you.”
Parker didn’t fight it.
Feeling ten kinds of useless, I stayed where I was, just inside the door. “Do you want me to go?”
She glanced back at me, apology in her eyes. “No. I think we’ve all got things to talk about, if you can wait a bit.”
“As long as you need.”
They disappeared into the bedroom. I heard the bathroom tap turn on and the tub begin to fill.
“Where are your gummies?”
“Nightstand drawer.”
Falkor padded out of the bedroom and came to lick my hand. He looked up at me as if to say, “I don’t know what’s going on, either.” Absently, I scratched behind his ears. Parker had been avoiding this woman for weeks. And now here she was. What did it mean? Only that she’d finally tracked Parker down? Or was something else going on?
A few minutes later, the tall, lean black woman came out of the bedroom, leaving the door open, presumably so she could hear if Parker called. She crossed her arms. “So.”
I fought the urge to mimic the motion. “So, you’re the bodyguard.”
“So, you’re the boyfriend.”
Given that Parker had just spent the night in my bed, even if it had just been sleeping, it seemed apt enough. “Aye.”
Jade didn’t respond to that, only stared at me as if she could see into my soul.
Parker called out from the bathroom. “I can hear you having a glower-off. Both of you behave!”
“I didn’t realize you were dating your boss,” Jade called back.
“Only one of them.”
That made the other woman’s lips twitch, just a fraction.
“How did you find me?” Parker asked.
“For all the steps you took to hide your tracks, you neglected to think that I’d actually watched all those Instagram and YouTube links you sent me with hikes all over creation. I remembered that several of them were hosted by a company owned by former military men. It just took me a little while to dig through the viewing history to track down which one.” She chuckled. “You did extremely well disappearing for somebody with no training in espionage and evasion tactics.”
“That something you have a lot of experience with?” I asked.
Her narrowed eyes flashed. “Oh, don’t you worry your pretty head. I’m well qualified for my job.”
I had a distinct impression that she was judging me and coming up undecided.
I felt much the same.
“J, be nice,” Parker warned.
“I’m always nice. Until I’m not.” There was a definitive edge to her, and no question she could handle herself.
She’d slipped off her jacket, and I caught a glimpse of a tattoo on her biceps. A globe with the edge of what appeared to be an anchor.
“Marines?”
One dark brow winged up. “Eight years. You?”
“Royal Marines. Fifteen.”
That implacable face cracked just a little until she looked reluctantly impressed by that.
“Jade! Little help.”
The bodyguard disappeared back into the bedroom.
Because I couldn’t stand still any longer, I prowled over to the kitchenette to inspect the contents of the fridge. Parker needed to eat something. Finding eggs, cheese, and bread, I set about making some breakfast sandwiches. I was just plating them when the pair of them came back out.
Parker caught sight of them, and her face softened. “You didn’t have to make breakfast.”
“Least I could do. You should eat.”
Jade looked mildly impressed that I’d made her a sandwich, too. “Thanks.”
We relocated to the lounge. I was relieved to see that Parker looked less glazed and was moving a bit more under her own steam.
“So, what precipitated this visit? Is it that you finally found me, or is something going on?”
“Girl, you have to tell your parents. I can’t keep putting them off.”
Parker closed her eyes and blew out a long breath, her shoulders slumping. I wanted to put my arms around her, take whatever weight I could off those shoulders. But I wasn’t sure this was something I could take on for her.
“Fine. I’ll do what I probably should have done in the first place.” She reached for the laptop on the end table.
“What are you going to do?”
She flipped open the laptop and began to click. “I’m writing them an email informing them I’ve moved to Scotland, and that I have a job and a home, and I hope they’ll be happy and supportive.”
Parker hadn’t talked much about her family other than to say that they’d effectively smothered her, which had precipitated this whole adventure. But somehow I didn’t expect them to take the news that well. Still, Jade and I stayed quiet, eating our sandwiches, while Parker typed up the email.
“Okay. It’s sent.” She looked at Jade. “You wanna take bets on how long it takes them to show up here?”
“I reckon that depends. How much sunshine did you try to blow up their asses about the wisdom of this decision?”
Parker stuck her tongue out in a gesture that said so much about her relationship with this woman. “A necessary amount. But when they show up, we’ll be ready. Meanwhile, let me formally introduce you to Callum Quinn. Callum, this is Jade Washington, my bodyguard and best friend.”
I grunted a hello.
Then we all stared at each other.
Jade was the one who finally broke the silence. “So now what?”
Parker finished her last bite of sandwich. “Now, we need to get to work, and I guess it’s time for you to see what my new life looks like.”