Chapter 14
14
Stunned, Logan held on to Vivian as she clung to him. He’d seen jungle monkeys not hold on to trees as tightly. Concern sent his heart racing. “Viv, what’s wrong?”
Placing her mouth close to his, she whispered, “Is she looking?”
Blinking slowly, he crinkled his brow as he glanced over her shoulder, then returned to her face. “She was, but she’s headed back inside.” He held her easily, finding her weight in his arms comforting. And as she wiggled slightly, his comfort quickly became discomfort as his cock reacted to the beautiful woman plastered to him. Her breasts were pressed against his chest, the soft feel against his hard body making his growing erection hard to ignore. He was still uncertain of why she clung to him so tightly, but the smile on her face gave evidence she wasn’t in danger.
“Just in case she or the man inside who was peeking out the window earlier are at the window watching now, we should stay like this for a moment,” she whispered. “I told her we were newlyweds, and she’d expect me to greet you this way.”
Dawning slid over him as he continued to hold her in his arms, enjoying the feel of her body pressed to him more than he wanted to admit. “Oh, she would, would she?” he said, keeping his mouth close to her cheek.
“I tried to invite her over for tea, thinking that would be a way to get to know her without her getting suspicious.”
Holding her close, Logan felt her warm breath wash over his cheek, and he fought the urge to wish her lips were closer. “I think it’s safe now.” His gruff voice effectively sliced through the distraction that was Viv in his arms. Irritated that she had made contact with the neighbors without a plan or him around, he forced his arms to loosen, afraid they might go from holding her waist to throttling her neck.
Startled, she settled back on her heels with a jolt. “Uh…yeah. Right.” Turning quickly, she walked toward the front door with him following. Once inside, she faced him again, only this time from a respectable distance. “I went over to introduce myself to her.”
Cocking his head to the side, he placed his hands on his hips and said, “You should have waited for me.”
“Oh, no. I didn’t go to their door. I just waited until I saw her come out, and then I went out like I was going to my car to get something. I stowed a bag there just in case the opportunity arose. And it did! It was easy to introduce myself to her.”
“And what name did you give her?” he asked, his voice unyielding.
“Uh…Vivian?” she said, a question in her tone. “You and I didn’t talk about names, did we?” Her smile fell as she muttered, “Damn.”
“You should have waited, Viv. I’m the one with experience planning. I’m the one who has to anticipate what they might think or do.” He worked to keep his voice steady, but his words held an undercurrent of anger.
“But it seemed like such a good idea. Really spontaneous.”
“Did you give your last name? Did you say Sanders?”
“No. No,” she hurried to say. “I just told her my name was Vivian. And she just said she was Farrah.”
A relieved breath rushed out of Logan as he dropped his chin to his chest, closing his eyes on the way down. A soft touch reached his arms, and his eyes jerked open again. Vivian stood right in front of him, her face peering up into his, her dark eyes searching.
“I’m sorry, Logan. I just saw her and wanted so much to make contact. I figured they might get suspicious of us if they never saw us out together. Now they know we’re a newly married couple who just moved in. I thought you being gone would be a good thing, not knowing if she would approach if you were here.”
Nodding slowly, he reached up. His fingers itched to cup her cheek but rested on her shoulders instead. “Right. It’s done, and it appears nothing untoward occurred. But”—he pinned her with a stormy stare—“from now on, you don’t make a move unless I know about it. I don’t want them inside this house any more than I want you over there. Agreed?”
Vivian pursed her lips, appearing to try to hide her irritation but failing at the effort.
“Does that include the labs as well?” she asked, unable to keep the snarkiness from her voice. “I might not be a covert operator, but I’m sure as hell not stupid.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she slumped her shoulders. Sighing loudly, she said, “What a mess this is.”
Logan stepped backward, his thoughts tumbling once more. He was used to precise planning and execution, so this mission drove him batty… and it’s only been one day. “Okay, let’s plan more after we eat. I stopped at the bar in town and grabbed some burgers.”
Seeing her eyes light up, he turned and headed back to the truck to retrieve the bag he had abandoned when she threw herself at him. It reminded him it had been a long time since a woman had jumped into his arms.
In the Navy and then SEAL training, the bars near the bases were full of women just waiting to bed a SEAL for bragging rights or wanting to snag one as a husband. Leaning into the truck to grab the bags, he knew how different it was for Vivian to be in his arms. Sure, it had been for their cover, but it still felt… real . He could have sworn she was glad to see him return and not just for their cover.
Shaking the thoughts from his head, he stalked back inside, his earlier grumpiness returning.
Vivian quietly grabbed water bottles for them as his dark mood filled the room. She sat at the table, reaching for her food and thanking him softly. He sat down, hating that his bad mood permeated their meal, and tried to think of a way to apologize.
She bit into the burger, and her eyes closed as she groaned as though in ecstasy. Logan leaned back in frustration, hearing the sounds emitted as her mouth closed over her hamburger. He knew all too well he would love to listen to those sounds in a different context.
With her woolen sock-covered feet on the coffee table and toes pointed toward the wood-burning stove, Vivian crunched on an apple as she watched Logan work on his plan. His dark brown hair was the color of milk chocolate, and while it was thick, it appeared silky, not coarse. He had reading glasses perched on his nose, giving him the look of a sexy professor. Thinking back to the lab she had worked in, no men had his virility. Sighing, she shifted her gaze out the window, watching the sun as it dropped behind the tree line.
“It gets dark so early this time of year,” she commented.
“Uh-huh,” he agreed, not looking up from the laptop perched on his lap.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve spent any time here…not since college. The last years in California have me spoiled to more daylight and warmer autumns.”
“Uh-huh,” he muttered again.
Stifling a laugh, she said, “Do you want me to run around the house clucking like a chicken or crowing like a rooster?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Logan!”
“What?” he asked, his brows drawn down as he looked at her over the top of the computer. “What’s wrong?”
“You haven’t been listening to a word I’ve said!” She pulled her feet off the coffee table and plopped them on the floor, leaning forward. “I know you’re busy, but you still haven’t told me what I’m supposed to talk about with Farrah.”
Turning toward her, he set his laptop down and offered a slight grin. “I’m working on our backstory. I only created one for myself before I came, and frankly, the whole thing about supposing to be married has completely thrown me.”
She forced a blank expression on her face, refusing to admit his words stung. Is it that hard to imagine me in a romantic light? “What have you come up with?”
“Okay, you’ve given your name as Vivian, which is fine. I can still be Logan, but our last name is Preacher.”
“Preacher?”
“Old name from my SEAL days…never mind. Just go with it.”
“Vivian Preacher. Vivian and Logan Preacher.” She tried the names out, and a smile spread across her face. “I like it.”
“I’m thrilled,” he muttered. “My cover job is working as a mechanic at the airport. Before I came, it was arranged for me to have a part-time job at a little airfield a few miles from here. Usually, I’ll leave each morning but return in midafternoon.”
Bobbing her head in agreement, she listened more eagerly. “And me? What’s my cover?”
“You’re working on a college degree but taking online classes for now until you start at the University of Alaska next semester. That gives you a reason for being at home during the day. And they can’t check to see if you are a student since you won’t be enrolled until later.”
“My major?”
“I think we’ll stick to the truth. Biology.”
Her eyes widened. “But?—”
“When creating a cover, it’s often best to stick to certain truths so as not to get tripped up. Giving you another major could possibly cause problems if they ask you questions you don’t know the answers to.”
“Gotcha,” she agreed, seeing the wisdom in his explanation.
“Tonight, I’ll install the outside cameras on our house to give us surveillance on their property. My people will also be able to monitor what is happening. They won’t be watching them as much when you’re here during the day since they’ll have other work to do. I have more equipment arriving today, but I will have to know their schedule?—”
“They grocery shop every Thursday afternoon,” she blurted.
“How do you know that?”
“Farrah told me.”
He was surprised but then wondered if there would be a day when she didn’t surprise him. “As I was saying, we didn’t have time to do surveillance before I came, so this was more rushed than I would have liked.”
“What kind of things would you have done?” She leaned forward, interested in what his job entailed. “This is so different from what I do or can even imagine!”
He held her gaze for a moment, then said, “If an area can be monitored by satellite, we could have gotten a visual on the area, houses, their cars, and even who came to visit. But we didn’t have time to do much, and this area is so wooded that our resources were needed elsewhere.”
She nodded, then leaned back again. “So what will I be doing during the days when you’re at work?”
“You will need to monitor the comings and goings next door. Even with the equipment that will come in?—”
“You never told me what equipment was coming.”
Heaving a sigh, he said, “Equipment necessary for what I’ll be doing. Until then, I need you to keep a log of who comes and goes. Descriptions, car makes and models, and if you can positively identify the people, all the better. You also need to get your lab ready.”
Interest sparked throughout her. “Finally!”
Logan shook his head and met her grin with a slight quirk of his lips. “In fact, we can start that today.”
Clapping her hands, she jumped up from the sofa and announced, “Just let me get my boots!”