CHAPTER 8 #4
And every time he failed yet again, all he could think about was how Jannie looked when she asked him to kiss her, taking his face between her hands and staring into him as if she meant to own his soul. Moreover, he couldn’t shake the feeling that she was in some sort of trouble.
He shouldn’t care.
He shouldn’t worry.
He shouldn’t think of her every damn waking moment, then dream of her at night, and wake up needing to jerk himself off while picturing her deep blue eyes and perfect mouth.
But he did, just as he used to do in high school, and …
Fuck it.
Thumbing through his contacts, Nick found the one he needed. “Hey, Dwight. I need a favor.”
·
Jannie
Her dog was going apeshit.
Jannie jolted awake, her heart pounding at the sound of Rolf’s urgent barking. He never failed to alert, but this time his pitch seemed different, and something about it made the hairs at her nape stand up.
“OK!” she yelled.
That command usually got him to stop, but instead, his bark grew louder and more vicious by the second.
Oh.
Jannie sat up. She’d never heard that tone before.
Something was wrong.
Picking up the phone, she thought about dialing 911 but decided to check the surveillance cameras first. A man stood at the back sliding glass door, cupping his hands as he tried to peek inside.
Jannie’s eyes widened as she stared at the monitor.
Was he trying the lock? She watched him go to the other sliding door that led to the game room and look inside that one, too.
Jannie sprinted to lock her bedroom door, then picked up the phone and dialed.
“911, do you need police, fire, or medical?”
“Police, please.”
“What’s going on?”
“I think someone’s trying to break into my house.”
She quickly gave the dispatcher her information, listening to her dog still going off in the next room. Poor Rolf was getting hoarse.
“They were in the neighborhood, ma’am,” the dispatcher reassured her. “They’re almost there. Stay on the line with me until you see the deputies, OK?”
“Thank you.”
A few moments later, Jannie thought she heard a voice outside. “Are they here?”
“Not yet,” the dispatcher said.
“OK.” She heard a loud knock on the glass, and Rolf went off again. This time, she heard the scrape of claws, and she just knew he was launching himself at the slider.
“Shit,” she muttered. She hated it when he was this agitated. He could hurt himself.
Grabbing her Donald Duck robe and throwing it on, she quickly tied it as she rushed out of her bedroom.
Sure enough, Rolf was losing it, foam at the corners of his mouth as he barked at someone out there. Yes, it was a guy, tall and muscular, she guessed from a quick look outside. Not wanting him to see that she was home, she stayed out of sight.
“The deputies are at your front door, ma’am.”
“Thank you so much. I’ll hang up now.”
“No problem. Stay safe.”
It took two stern commands to call off the dog, but he finally listened.
Jannie praised him and pointed to his crate.
She knew many cops were familiar with shepherds, and Rolf would never bite someone without being prompted, but she wasn’t taking any chances.
He reluctantly ducked inside the plastic box, toenails clicking as he spun around, and Jannie quickly latched it.
She saw the blond cop through the large glass lights, and her shoulders sagged with relief as she went to open the front door.
A young sheriff’s deputy stood there, dressed in the familiar dark green uniform with multiple implements on the belt, hand on his hip, his expression carefully controlled. Another stood nearby.
“He’s in the back,” she told them. “Please hurry.”
They nodded and, hands on their holsters, headed around the house.
The next second, all hell broke loose. She looked across the entry to the lanai, stunned to see Rolf, hackles raised, charging toward the intruder, who staggered backward, arms out, and fell ass first into the pool with a tremendous splash.
Jannie’s heart jumped into her throat. How had Rolf escaped? Crap, she hadn’t secured the top latch properly. It had happened before; he’d been able to bust out of his crate and use the doggie door to get outside.
The man sank to the bottom, then bobbed to the surface, tossing his soaked dark hair out of his face. At the pool’s edge, Rolf stood menacingly, body leaning forward, hackles raised, barking with a mouth full of big white German Shepherd teeth.
“Good boy,” she muttered. The intruder was trapped. If he got out of the pool and tried to run, his ass was Rolf’s.
A nervous giggle escaped her. Jannie had often wondered if Rolf would protect her in a situation like this. Now she knew the answer.
Quickly, she stepped outside to call off the dog, who ran inside at her command with a full body shake and an indignant, “Boof.”
“Go to your crate!” she ordered.
Rolf bounded off, and she moved to follow him just as the cops rounded the corner and drew their guns.
“Sheriff’s office! Hands up right now!”
Yeah, have fun with Orange County’s finest.
“Jannie.”
Jannie froze.
Oh my God.
She knew that voice.
She turned.
He stood knee-deep in the pool.
Totally drenched.
In uniform.
Her lips parted.
Nick.
She walked to the edge of the pool, thinking this was a hallucination. Nick in the water, drenched, hands raised, tie askew, his white shirt clinging to his chest, accentuating every sculpted muscle.
Looking supremely annoyed.
Her throat spasmed, and heat crept slowly up her neck.
The blond deputy slanted her a glance, his gun still pointed straight at Nick. “You know this man, ma’am?”
She couldn’t answer right away. She stared at Nick, even more handsome than she remembered, hot as hell in that wet shirt, even obviously irritated at being mistaken for a home invader.
He looked at her.
She swallowed. “I do know him.”
The cops relaxed, slowly lowering their weapons.
“I’m sorry to bother you,” she said. “I guess I overreacted.”
The taller deputy stepped back, slanting Nick a cool, assessing glance before holstering his gun. He nodded. “Have a nice day, ma’am.”
Jannie licked her lips. “Thank you. You too.”
They disappeared around the corner, slamming the gate behind them.
Leaving Jannie to stand there, staring down at Nick.
If anything, he looked more striking than she remembered.
She also realized her hair was a rat’s nest, and she was barefoot in wrinkled pajamas and her fuzzy yellow robe with Donald Duck heads.
Normally, she would have been mortified, but she couldn’t bring herself to feel much of anything.
She did note the warmth in his eyes, with a touch of hunger and an even bigger dose of worry.
Had her brothers put him up to this?
She frowned at him. “What brings you here?”
His lips twitched. “A G650.”
Huh. Her brother didn’t own a Gulfstream G650, so Nick couldn’t have hitched a ride with Adam. Besides, he was in Tokyo right now and rarely had business in Orlando.
“Oh,” was all she said.
He nodded. “One of our CJs is in for maintenance at Orlando Service Center, and I volunteered to pick it up and fly it back to Vegas. A friend let me fly jump seat.”
“Nice of him.”
“It was.”
An awkward silence followed, broken by the loud, obnoxious caws of a crow perched in the neighbor’s southern live oak. Nick pulled off his ruined tie, then began working the buttons of his shirt. His pants were soaked too, revealing the outline of—
“Jannie?”
She tore her gaze away from his crotch. “Hmm?”
“Can I get out of this pool now?” He cast a wary glance around. “Or will your vicious beast attack me again?”
“He isn’t vicious. That was only a bark and hold.”
He muttered something under his breath. Not bothering with the stairs, he braced his hands on the coping, pushing himself out with ease and grace. She watched the play of his impressive biceps. He straightened, and chlorine-scented water cascaded off his body, pooling at his feet.
“Your shoes!”
He looked down as water continued to trickle down his pant legs, filling his black lace-up oxfords. “Yeah.” He toed them off. “They’re trashed, I guess.”
“Not necessarily.” At his questioning look, she said, “If you fill them with newspapers, put them in the shade and run a fan on them, they might be OK.”
He shifted from one foot to the other and smiled. Just like before, she wondered what that smile would look like sans beard. Probably make him look too damned handsome.
Hell, he already was too damned handsome.
What was he doing here?
A flicker of annoyance sparked within her. She didn’t want surprise visitors, especially hot ones. “Why were you prowling around in my backyard?”
“You didn’t answer your doorbell.” His mouth twisted in a sexy half-smile.
“So, when I didn’t come to my front door, you decided to creep around back?
“I wanted to see you.”
“Well, you’ve seen me.”
“Yes. I have.” He looked her up and down.
Ugh.
She didn’t need this. Didn’t need him showing up at her house looking like masculine heat itself while she looked like shit. Nor did she need him to look at her like—
“You’re not happy to see me?”
Jannie crossed her arms. “No.”
His hands went to his shirt front, and he pulled on the wet fabric. Having that chlorine-soaked cotton on his skin was surely uncomfortable. Served him right.
“Well … I guess you should be going.”
He looked down at himself. “I’m soaking wet.”
That he was. “I’m sure you have a change of clothes in your car.” Her brothers always had one.
He shook his head. “No car. I took an Uber. They didn’t have a crew car available. I left my Rollaboard and flight bag at the FBO.”
“Why?”
“I thought it would be presumptuous of me to show up at your door with a carry-on.”
He had no right to bust into her life like this. No right to force his presence on her when all she wanted was to be left alone to go back to bed.
Except …
Except Nick’s eyes. He looked at her exactly the same way he had when she was fifteen, as if he wanted to say so much. Warmth and interest and hope and something else she couldn’t define. Maybe she should at least offer to dry his clothes and shoes.