Chapter 21
Zane
The motor of the Cayenne purred as I drove through afternoon traffic on the way back from today’s surveillance mission on one of Victor Russo’s couriers.
“Good work, people,” Lucas said in my tactical earpiece.
Lucas had been concerned that Victor might have gotten involved with the North Koreans, but this delivery had been everyday criminal shit. The guy picked up a case, probably filled with money, at a seedy corner check-cashing business and brought it to Victor’s top lieutenant.
I’d wanted to spend the day at SpaceMasters, where I could keep an eye on the delectable Peyton. But Lucas had picked me for this mission, saying I was fresh in town and Terry’s face was too well known by people in the Russo gang.
At my insistence, Jordy had taken another look at the possibility that Peyton was, or had been, in witness protection. But that was a bust. When our tech geek said he’d hacked into the US Marshals Service database and she wasn’t and never had been under their protection, I had to believe him.
That left only the direct approach. Today was the day I planned to push Peyton again on her secretive background and get serious about who or what she was running from. I’d backed off that topic as she’d asked, but that had to end.
I muted the earpiece when a phone call came in. I didn’t recognize the number, but I hadn’t loaded Pete’s new number in my phone. “Hi, what’s up?”
“Mr. March?” a tentative female voice asked. The connection wasn’t good.
“Yes.”
“Peyton gave me a note and asked me to call you.”
I slammed on the brakes, pulled to the curb, and cranked up the volume. “Go ahead.”
“She wants you to come right now. I think something has scared her.”
“Where?” I demanded.
“B-B Pawn, the three hundred block of Oak Leaf Avenue.”
“I’m on the way.” Flooring the Porsche, I screeched away from the curb, narrowly missing an delivery van. “I won’t be long. Tell her to hold on and not go anywhere.”
“Please hurry.”
I ended the call, let off the gas, and laid on the brakes for the next intersection.
The tires squealed as I cut left and then let the twin-turbo V8 roar on the short straight section. Unmuting my earpiece, I announced, “Peyton’s in trouble.”
“Where?” Lucas demanded as I braked for the next corner.
I repeated the shop name and street the woman had given me as I sped up again.
“On the way,” Constance said before Lucas could tell her to join me.
“Me too,” Duke said.
“Jordy, get a drone in the air.”
“On it,” Jordy said. The pride and joy of his fleet was a drone he’d just gotten that could do a hundred and fifty through the air and didn’t have to slow for corners.
Lucas had made us all take performance driving lessons on the local race track, and I planned on pushing this Porsche right to the damned limit to reach Peyton in time.
“What’s the situation?” Lucas asked, cool as could be.
“No idea. She asked the store owner to call me is all I know.” I was anything but cool as I swatted away the terrible scenarios where I didn’t reach her in time. I would not fail her. I could not.
“Nothing on the police scanner,” Jordy informed us.
As the blocks ticked down and I got closer, the idea of her at a pawn shop ate at me. Why would she be there if not to sell something to get the money to run?
I didn’t want her to run from whatever her fear was, but I especially didn’t want her to run without telling me. That stung. We hadn’t known each other for long, but I thought she knew she could trust me.
“I’m overhead,” Jordy announced. “I don’t see anything hinky.”
“Zane, you’re closest. You take the front,” Lucas said. “Constance, you take the back alley.”
We both acknowledged at the same time.
“Two miles out,” Duke said.
“Back up Zane at the front of the store,” Lucas instructed.
“Copy that.”
I liked that I had another SEAL backing me up. We’d been through the same training and understood the moves the other would make if this turned kinetic.
Kinetic. I really didn’t like the idea of Peyton caught in the middle of a firefight.
I rounded the final turn. The street in front of the store was thankfully empty of cars and people. Keeping the speed on until the last second, I screeched to a hard stop, threw the door open, pulled my SIG, and aimed at the store over my hood.
Nothing seemed out of place. “Entering.” I could see a woman and a man behind the counter at the back of the space and one customer facing away.
I got the standard one-click acknowledgment in my ear. Good comms practice required a minimum of words at this point.
“In position,” Constance said just as I got to the door.
“Hold there,” I instructed. I lowered my weapon and entered the store. “Peyton.” I recognized the customer as her.
Turning, she ran at me. “Zane.” Her voice was frantic.
I grabbed her with my free hand when she threw herself at me. “What happened?”
“He was here. On the street.”
“Who?” Turning, I confirmed there was still nobody in front of the shop.
“The man with one blue and one brown eye.”
“She’s secure,” I said into comms. “We’re looking for a male suspect with different color eyes who was at the front of the building.”
“Heterochromia,” Lucas clarified. “Constance, exit the alley to the south and come back on Oak Leaf to the shop. Duke, walk the street starting a block north.”
I holstered my weapon while they acknowledged Lucas.
The man and woman came out from behind the counter.
“Mr. March?” the woman asked. By her voice, she’d been the one who called me.
“Yes.” I nodded as I held a sobbing Peyton and rubbed her back.
Peyton pulled on my hair to get me down for a quick kiss. “You came.”
“I told you I would.”
She pressed her face into my chest and held on tight.
“Something scared her out of her wits,” the man said.
“The man with different color eyes,” I asked. “Did he come into the shop?”
The woman looked at the man and shook her head. “We didn’t have anyone like that today.”
Constance appeared outside. “Clear out here,” she said in my ear.
“Clear to the north,” Duke added.
I pulled Peyton tighter. “Constance and Duke are outside. The coast is clear. Are you ready to go home?” No way was I letting her go anywhere else. It was time for answers.
“Just a moment,” the woman said, rushing back to the counter. She returned with a pair of earrings and handed them to Peyton. “You can’t leave without these.”
“Thank you so much, Beth.” She released me to hug the woman and then pivoted to the man. “And you, Blake.”
“I hope you keep those,” Beth said. “Memories like that can’t be replaced.”
Peyton nodded and wrapped an arm around me. “Thank you again.”
“Exiting the shop,” I said into comms. As I opened the door, I scanned up and down the street before stepping outside.
Constance was the first to speak. “A man with different color eyes?”
Peyton nodded.
Duke had his head on a swivel, watching for trouble. “We’re too exposed here. Back to Hawk?”
“Bring her here,” Lucas said.
That would have been wise, but with Peyton as scared as she was, I vetoed it. “Just a moment.” I muted comms. “We can help you, but only if you’re ready to tell us what you’re running from.”
“What’s going on?” Lucas demanded.
“I think he’s kissing the girl,” Jordy said.
“Stand by one,” Duke told them both.
Constance smiled.
Peyton took in a deep breath. “I’m ready.”
Unmuting my comms, I announced. “Meeting at my place to discuss.”
“You heard the man,” Lucas said. “Jordy, organize the rest of the crew. Duke, you organize the food and drink. Meeting at Zane’s place.”
“At least I didn’t get stuck with the food run this time,” Constance noted.
That made Peyton smile.
I opened the car door for her, closed her in, and scanned the street one more time to be safe.
Getting in and starting the Porsche, I made the departure a calmer affair than the arrival. “Letting us help you is the right thing,” I assured her.
She nodded. “I know that now.” Her hand came over the console as an invitation, and I took it and intended to hold it the entire way home.
Peyton
I drew strength from March’s hand as he held mine.
No, I couldn’t call him March any longer. He was my Zane. I’d been fighting the realization since the moment days ago when our lips touched in that moment that redefined what a kiss could convey.
He was the man I couldn’t avoid—the man I couldn’t keep from thinking about and couldn’t leave. He was a man I could count on, rely on, lean on—a real man.
I was done fighting it. “Zane?”
“Yeah, Angel? Hey, you used my name.”
“I did, and I’m rethinking my no men rule.” Rethinking wasn’t the right word, but I was too chicken to come right out and say, Zane, I want you. Zane, I think it’s time we got naked. Zane, I need you. Zane, I want you to… No, I didn’t know how to be that forward.
He glanced over and smiled. “That’s good to hear, Angel, because I’m not giving up.”
Calling me Angel made my insides go all gooey. “That means I think maybe we should try kissing again.” Why did I have to include maybe in that sentence? I was such a wimp.
“Really?” He pulled the car hard right to the side of the road, stopped, and put it in park. “This is just going to be a taste.”
We both leaned toward the other at the same time, our mouths crashing together.
My heat level went immediately to ten. I wanted this man so badly. Spearing my fingers in his hair, I pulled to get him closer, but was foiled by the console and our seatbelts.
His hand cupped my breast as he ravaged my mouth. I’d been lying to myself, trying to believe this wasn’t what I wanted and needed. It sucked to be alone.
He pulled away and touched his ear. “No problem, computer man. Just getting my bearings and planning… Yeah, see you there.” He blew out an exasperated breath. “He saw the car stop. Sometimes, it sucks to have Jordy monitoring our locations.”
I giggled. “Can’t you turn it off?”
“Nope. Just like I can’t turn off my desire for you, Angel.” Then he winked—a scalding hot wink.
Holy hotness. My cheeks burned. No man had ever said anything so romantic to me.
“And I wasn’t lying to him. I am making plans for you.”
Squeezing my thighs together, I couldn’t control my fantasies. The short kiss had been only a taste to whet my appetite for more. Mission accomplished.
That first night, taking me to the hospital, when he’d vowed to be out of my life once I was safe, I’d welcomed that statement. No more. I yearned to be done with the strangler and get back to a normal life, and now that yearning included a life with this man.
We had only gone another block down the street. “You’re staying.” He said it as a statement, not a question.
“I’m staying.” I had to explain the horrors of my past to the group, but I was committed.
I wouldn’t be the gazelle any longer. This lioness had a full pride at her back and was ready to make a stand.