Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Amanda was on top of the world. She didn’t have her life figured out, but having Nash in it was a bonus she’d never expected to enjoy when she’d made the decision to go to Guyana.
A week had gone by since their return, and she and Nash had settled into a comfortable routine quite easily.
He’d been sleeping at her apartment most nights, because of Rain, but she and the dog had gone over to his place one night as well.
It was as if they’d known each other all their lives.
He was comfortable to be around and was always looking after her.
He made breakfast for them every morning, and even though he had to get up early to go to the base to work out with his team, and for meetings of one kind or another, she’d always been a morning person so it wasn’t a big deal to get up when he did.
Sleeping with him—actually sleeping—was amazing as well. He was just as much a cuddler now as he’d been in the jungle. Having him at her back while she slept was a comfort Amanda didn’t know she needed or wanted.
And the sex? Yeah, that was a big perk.
She supposed it shouldn’t be a surprise that Nash was pretty dominant in bed.
He moved her where he wanted her, did what he wanted to her, and seemed to have a thing for making her orgasm over and over.
Not that it was a hardship in the least. But he always made sure she was with him all the way, and that he wasn’t doing anything to hurt her or that she didn’t want.
The most surprising thing was how much Amanda enjoyed letting him take charge.
Not having to think about how to position herself, or wonder whether or not Nash might like something, was a freedom she hadn’t expected.
It allowed her to simply feel, to enjoy the sensations he brought forth, and she could be more in the moment with him.
But he also didn’t expect sex every night, which was nice. Some nights all they did was watch TV then curl up together in bed and talk about nothing and everything. It reminded her of the jungle, how they’d talk to pass the time.
And he was great with Rain, volunteering to take him out to do his business, and he’d even taken time off to go to the vet with her to get him checked over.
They’d learned the dog was in surprisingly good condition for being a stray from the jungle.
The vet guessed him to be around three years old.
He was underweight, but not dangerously so, thanks to the nutritious food Amanda had been feeding him.
While Nash went to the naval base every day, Amanda spent her time researching options for upgrading her teaching certificate to include younger grades, and emailing some of the contacts she had for schools in the area about possible job openings.
But it was the wrong time of year for hiring, most schools already had all the teachers they needed, which wasn’t exactly a surprise but kind of frustrating all the same.
She couldn’t live off her savings forever.
That morning, Nash had woken her with his head between her legs, eating her out to a monster orgasm before grinning like a loon and casually walking toward the bathroom with a huge hard-on, which he refused to let her do anything about, saying he’d take care of it in the shower because he wanted her to get more sleep.
Now, with Nash at work, Amanda was sitting at her small kitchen table, back in front of her laptop.
Once again, she was researching the best way to get her credentials to teach younger grades…when Rain’s head suddenly came up off the dog bed that Nash had brought home one day, saying he needed something better than blankets on the floor.
The dog growled low in his throat, a sound Amanda had only heard one other time—when she and Nash were in the jungle, and Rain was trying to prevent them from going down the path that would lead to the rebels.
Surprised, she looked at Rain. He’d left his comfy bed and was now standing between her and the foyer, staring at the door and still growling.
“Rain? Come here,” Amanda said.
The dog wouldn’t budge.
The hair on the back of Amanda’s neck rose. She had no idea what Rain sensed, but it couldn’t be good if he was acting like this. She stood and hesitated, not sure what to do.
A second later, there was a loud pounding at the door.
Amanda jumped, the sound scaring the crap out of her.
Rain barked. A deep sound that startled Amanda almost as much as the knocking. She’d never heard Rain bark. Not once. The fact that he was doing it now wasn’t exactly a comfort.
“Amanda Rush? Open the door. DEA. We have a warrant.”
What the heck?! DEA? A warrant? Amanda was so confused. But the man pounding on her door obviously wasn’t going away. And she certainly had nothing to hide. She would’ve thought they had the wrong apartment altogether, except the man had specifically said her name.
She quickly hurried to the door, grabbing Rain’s leash on a hook next to where she hung her keys and purse every time she walked into the apartment. She quickly attached it to his collar and took a deep breath before unbolting and opening the door.
Three men immediately pushed inside the small foyer, forcing Amanda to take several steps back to give them room.
Rain alternated between barking and growling menacingly.
“Keep your dog under control or we’ll have to remove the threat,” one of the other men said firmly.
Shocked that this was happening, Amanda backed against the wall and kept a tight hold on Rain’s leash. Two of the men walked past her into her apartment without a second glance and the third thrust a piece of paper toward her.
“Search warrant. We’ve received a tip that there’s a large quantity of cocaine in this apartment. That it was brought into the country recently. You’ve been working and living in South America, correct?”
“Um, yeah. Guyana. But I didn’t bring any drugs back with me. I don’t do drugs,” Amanda protested.
“The information was credible, and in light of where you’ve spent the last few months, that’s why the judge approved the warrant. If there’s anything here, we’ll find it. Please step outside and let us do our job.”
Amanda was so confused and scared. Nothing like this had ever happened to her before.
She held the warrant in her hand as she was escorted to the door.
She had no idea what her rights were in this situation.
Could she say no? Could she refuse to let them look through her stuff?
She had nothing to hide, but she felt violated all the same.
“Can I have my phone?” she asked, as she stood in the hallway of her apartment building, trying to ignore the way the neighbors—the few around at this time of day—were peering out of their doors, attempting to see what was going on.
“Not right now,” the agent said. He didn’t close her door, just turned his back on her without a second glance.
Looking down, Amanda was embarrassed that she was still wearing her pajamas.
The oversized shirt she usually wore to bed and a pair of ratty old sweats she’d pulled on when she’d gotten up.
She was decently covered, but barefoot and braless, and she felt exposed and judged by both her neighbors and the three men who thought she was some kind of drug dealer.
She was left in her hallway for over an hour as the men searched her entire apartment.
Eventually, she and Rain sat on the cold concrete while waiting for the agents to finish.
Rain had stopped growling and barking, but he immediately climbed into her lap when she sat down, and every muscle in his body was tense.
It was more than obvious he was doing what he could to protect her. It was sweet in a sad way.
All Amanda wanted to do was call Nash, but the agents wouldn’t let her have her phone.
Wouldn’t let her go back inside her apartment.
She couldn’t go anywhere either, because she didn’t have her keys.
She could see them hanging on the peg by her open door, but she had a feeling if she tried to grab them, she wouldn’t like the consequences.
The third man, the one who seemed to be in charge, was keeping an eye on her while also overseeing the other two agents as they worked.
Finally, they seemed to finish the search.
The three men came out of her apartment.
The two agents who’d been rifling through her things didn’t give her another glance as they walked past her and Rain in the hallway.
The man in charge didn’t say he was sorry, didn’t explain that they hadn’t found anything, though that was obvious—she’d told him he wouldn’t, that she hadn’t brought drugs into the country when she returned. The guy simply nodded at her and left.
Feeling dirty, and desperately wanting a shower, Amanda went back into her apartment. She closed and locked the door—and gasped when she looked around.
Everything was in disarray. As they searched, she’d heard the clanking of dishes and pots and pans, and could see the men tossing the pillows off her couch from her spot in the hallway.
But seeing how everything she owned had been inspected and combed through made her feel a sense of violation she’d never experienced before.
She understood that if she did have drugs in her apartment, they most likely wouldn’t be sitting around in plain sight. That they would’ve been hidden. But this felt like a slap in the face. At least they hadn’t slashed open her pillows or Rain’s new bed.
Looking down at the dog at her side, Amanda saw he was practically vibrating with nervous energy. He hadn’t liked the men being in her apartment any more than she had.
Suddenly needing to be anywhere but here, Amanda hurried to her room to change.
She almost cried at seeing every drawer empty and her clothes piled on the floor. The agents had also removed the mattress from the frame and propped it up against the wall.