“HOW ARE YOU DOING?” Sloan asked Dev later. The deputies were gone and it was nearly 5:00 p.m., dinnertime. They had brought Dev’s clothes, food and anything else she needed over to his apartment. Sloan had emptied the top two drawers of his dresser for her. Luckily, he had few hanging clothes and he placed hers on one of the two rungs in the closet, so she had plenty of room. The move had gone well but she had been quiet, which was unlike her.
Dev forced a slight, jagged smile. “Could be better. Just stressed-out,” she admitted, closing the upper drawer of the dresser.
“I’m going to fix us something to eat,” Sloan said. “You probably aren’t hungry, but you need to keep your strength up, Dev.” Sometimes, he’d see moisture come to her eyes and assumed she needed to cry. But then Sloan would see her battle them back, force them away and keep on folding or hanging her clothes in the bedroom.
“I can’t eat, Sloan.” Dev touched her stomach. “I’m tied in knots.”
He stepped aside as she move past him into the hall, heading for the living room. “Anyone would be,” he agreed, following her. “I’m a pretty good cook for a single guy,” he teased, hoping to ease some of her strain. “I was thinking of a chicken and vegetable stir-fry? Does that sound good to you? I put in a little ginger, a few other herbs for taste.”
Dev sat down on the couch and Bella came over, the Lab wriggling herself between her open legs. Petting her dog, Dev said, “Okay, I’ll give it a try. Do you want any help?”
“If you want, you can cut up the red and green peppers and red cabbage. I’ll cut up the chicken breasts and make the orange-hoisin sauce.”
Giving Bella a quick kiss on her head, Dev rose. “Thanks. I need something to do, Sloan. I feel like I’m going crazy. Doing normal things helps me settle down and focus.”
He smiled faintly, holding her dark green eyes that clearly showed how upset she was. “Good enough. Come on. I’ll get you a good cutting knife, give you a bread board and you can go to work.”
Sloan watched Dev relax as he put her to work in the roomy kitchen. They worked side by side and he enjoyed her closeness. She was quick with the red and green peppers, putting the slices in a bowl. Sloan gave her the shiitake mushrooms next. He cut up the chicken breasts into thin strips.
“What do you think they’ll find?” Dev asked him.
“I’m hoping there will be prints and DNA on those aluminum cans we found.”
“What if it’s Gordon?”
Sloan heard the closeted terror in her voice. “It probably is, but we can’t go there without proof,” he cautioned, glancing to his left, holding her large, shadowed gaze. “At least we’d know, one way or another.”
“Yes,” she whispered hollowly, cutting up the mushrooms.
“You’ll stay with me until it’s over, Dev. I think that will help you.”
“I feel bad you’ve got to sleep out on the couch.”
Sloan smiled a little, pulling the bok choy over to cut it up. “Listen, we’re both used to sleeping on the ground or on a piece of cardboard if we could find it over in Afghanistan. You, more than most, know it’s great to have a couch to sleep on.”
“True,” Dev murmured, giving him a concerned look. “But I’m kicking you out of your bedroom.”
“It’s temporary.” Sloan wanted to say, Sleep with me every night. I’ll hold you safe. I’ll make all that fear go away because I’ll love you. None of it could be said, as much as he wanted to broach the topic. But the timing couldn’t be worse.
Dev dropped the mushrooms into the bowl.
“Why don’t you get the rice started?” He pointed to a box on the counter. “The pots and pans are beneath where you’re standing.” He saw her rally. The act of cooking, doing something familiar, was helping Dev enormously. “And after you get that started, can you bring me that jar of honey on the lazy Susan on the corner of the counter? I use a quarter cup of honey, grate some ginger, mince some scallions and chop up a pair of lemongrass stalks. Does that all sound good to you so far?”
She laughed a little. “You’re actually making me hungry, Sloan. It will not only smell wonderful, but it will be yummy to eat.”
His heart swelled with a fierce need for Dev. Already, Sloan could see some pinkness creeping back into her wan cheeks. Her green eyes no longer looked as haunted and dark. He smiled over at her. “I like to cook. My ma taught me early and I was always in the kitchen with her if I wasn’t helping my pa after school on a chore or some project. She was fantastic with herbs and spices. Now I always feel like a chemist before I cook something, wanting to try new spices or herbs on chicken, which is pretty bland meat without them.”
“You’re actually a chef in disguise,” Dev said, giving him a proud look. “Who knew?”
“What?” Sloan teased, wanting to distract her from the stress. “That a backwoods boy could be a decent cook?” Her eyes shone and an ache built in his lower body. Dev was so easily touched. It didn’t take much to make her respond and right now, that was a good thing. Washing his hands, he started on making the orange-hoisin sauce.
After pouring the water into the pan, Dev placed it on his gas stove. “There’s just so much more to you than I first realized, Sloan,” she said.
He placed chicken broth and orange juice into a small pan. “Don’t you think it’s that way with everyone? We all have many facets. Sort of like a diamond. Maybe some folks have more facets than others, but we all have them.” Sloan added a bit of soy sauce, hoisin sauce and sesame oil to the mixture. Taking a whisk, he stirred it together and then added fresh orange zest and a bit of cornstarch.
After turning the burner on, Dev poured the dry rice into a measuring cup. “You’re right. I guess I just don’t expect men to cook like this, that’s all.” Sloan reached around her and turned on the heat to cook the sauce ingredients.
“I saw you brought over a fancy-looking camera case and tripod. Are you a photographer?”
“I try,” Dev said, wiping her hands on a small towel on a hook near the sinks.
“What do you like to shoot?”
“Wildlife.” She gestured toward the bedroom where there was a king-size bed. “I brought over my photo albums of some of what I think are my best shots.”
“Then sometime let’s sit down at the dining room table and go through them.” Sloan held her surprised gaze. “I want to see how you see the world, Dev. Through your eyes.” He didn’t mean for his voice to go thick with emotion, but it had. He saw a luminous quality enter Dev’s eyes, and realized his comment had made her feel good.
“Okay, but they’re not very good... Really, they aren’t...”
“Beauty is in the eye of beholder,” Sloan assured her, stirring the sauce briskly now. The citrusy scent of the oranges filled the kitchen.
“I’ve never shown them to anyone,” Dev admitted, lifting the lid on the water to see if it was boiling yet.
“No? Why not? Were you too shy, I wonder? Worried that others wouldn’t see what you saw?”
“You’re pretty astute,” Dev grumbled, and then grinned over at him. They stood close, almost close enough to brush one another’s elbows. “My mother got me into photography when I was ten. She is an excellent amateur photographer and I was always hanging around her, asking questions. I guess she got tired of it and bought me a small Canon camera, a tripod, and we’d go out into the field together.”
“That’s nice that you have a connection like that with your mother,” Sloan said, taking the pot off the burner and turning it off. He placed the pot on a metal trivet on the counter. Opening a cabinet above his head, he picked out a bright red ceramic bowl and then poured the steaming sauce into it.
“It is,” Dev admitted softly, seeing that the water was now boiling. Taking off the lid, she put it aside and poured the measuring cup of rice into the pan. Reaching, she turned off the gas. “She wouldn’t be home for three or four days at a time and I’d really miss her. I always looked forward to spending that time with her when we’d go out together and photograph nature.”
“Being an airline pilot is like being in the military,” Sloan said. “A lot of time away from home because of flight schedules.” He took out the wok pot and placed a few dollops of coconut oil in the bottom of it, moving to the gas stove.
Dev stirred the rice, their elbows brushing against each another. “I hated her being gone so often as a kid.”
And Sloan knew her alcoholic father had been there all the time. No wonder Dev looked forward to seeing her mother. Wanting to keep the conversation light and positive, he asked, “What sort of wildlife do you like to shoot?” He added all the ingredients to the wok pot, stirring them briskly.
Dev moved away from the stove, resting her hips against the counter, watching Sloan work. Already, the air was filling with marvelous scents of ginger, oranges, lemongrass and soy sauce. “I love the buffalo around here. We didn’t have them back East, of course. I haven’t been able to photograph them yet, but I really want to, once things settle down around here.”
“I know where there’s a nearby herd,” he told her. “Maybe sometime next week, I’ll take you out on Gros Ventre Road, and if we get lucky enough we’ll intersect with them. They often cross the highway and you can get out and be within ten or twenty feet of them. Sound like a good offer?”
“Does it ever,” Dev said, suddenly excited. “Everyone over at the visitor’s center was warning me that the buffalo are extremely dangerous. That I should be really careful around them. Is that true?”
Stirring the veggies and chicken briskly, Sloan nodded. “They’re what we refer to as ‘twitchy.’ That means they’re unpredictable. A buffalo might look docile eating grass, but they can suddenly turn on a dime and charge you, out of the blue. It puts a whole new perspective on them. The rangers around here know that. They’re constantly warning tourists not to approach them. It’s a dangerous game. And you don’t want to have a one-ton buffalo charging you. You’ll lose that round. Guaranteed.”
Dev took the lid off the rice and stirred it. The kernels were white and fluffy and ready to be eaten. “Then you’re going to show me how to work with them? Show me the little signs that they’re getting twitchy, so I don’t get stomped?”
Sloan chuckled. He watched Dev empty the fluffy rice into a dark blue ceramic bowl and place it on the dining room table. Soon, the wok veggies and meat would be done. “Yes, I can share with you what I’ve observed and learned about them. We’ll have to keep the dogs in the truck, though. Buffalo don’t like dogs at all and will usually charge them if they feel threatened by them. They see a dog as a wolf. And the Snake River wolf pack can and do go after buffalo.”
“Maybe leave them home?” Dev asked, coming back into the kitchen. She pulled out bright yellow ceramic plates from a cabinet and retrieved flatware from the drawer.
“Probably best,” Sloan agreed. He smiled a little. “I think Bella and Mouse are going to really like this new arrangement, don’t you?”
Smothering a laugh, Dev nodded, eyeing the two dogs sitting side by side on Mouse’s large round doggy cushion. “I think it’s already a done deal, don’t you?”
Sloan nodded. He transferred the contents of the wok to a rectangular Pyrex glass bowl. “I think so, too. Well? Ready to eat? Hungry yet?” He brought the Pyrex out to the dining room table and set it down on a quilted hot pad to protect the maple wood.
“It really does smell wonderful,” Dev admitted. She hurried back to the kitchen and located two red linen napkins. When she returned with them, Sloan was standing, her chair pulled out from the table.
“Thank you,” Dev said, placing the napkins beside each plate. Sitting down, she watched Sloan retrieve two large ladles and the hoisin sauce from the kitchen.
Bella whined, sitting up on the cushion, ears up, eyes on the prize.
Dev laughed. “Oh, no! You do not get any of this, Bella.”
Entering the dining room, Sloan saw the yellow Lab lie back down, her full focus still on the food. He grinned and placed the spoons in the rice and the Pyrex bowl. “Do you give her scraps?” he asked, sitting down. He picked up her plate and placed a heap of rice and then the wok contents over it, then handed it back to her.
“Sometimes,” Dev hedged. “She’s such a foodie.”
“She’s not overweight and looks good. I think we’ll have some leftovers for her, if you want?”
“And you feed Mouse human tidbits?”
“Now I do. Yes. Not a lot, though,” Sloan admitted, piling his plate high. “Go ahead, try the food. Let me know if you like it.” He wanted Dev’s focus on her own well-being. She was like most people when they got upset: they lost their appetite. He tried to ignore her grace as she picked up the fork. And the way her soft lips opened, but he was already remembering their kiss at Long Lake. Damn, he’d give anything to strengthen their emotional ties to one another. Sloan didn’t see a way for that to happen presently. Dev was completely distracted and had a right to be, under the circumstances.
“Mmm,” Dev whispered, slowly chewing the food. “This is delicious!”
Sloan ate a bit of it himself, pleased with the outcome of his cooking skills. “I think it’s the coconut oil. It gives a very subtle tropical touch to the wok ingredients. What do you think?” Sloan felt his pulse arc upward. There was pure pleasure shining in Dev’s eyes.
“I can barely taste the coconut, but for sure, it does give it an exotic flavor. I love it!” And she dug into the food with relish.
Sloan was secretly thrilled to see her eat. Dev was underweight for her height. She was medium boned and yet she was almost skinny. He was sure it was due to the stress in her life since Gordon’s attack. “Eat all you want, gal.”
Dev raised her brows. “There’s a lot of food in this wok, Sloan!”
“Don’t worry about them,” he urged. “Put some meat on your ribs.” He shot her a teasing look. Her cheeks reddened. Sloan was discovering when he was intimate with Dev, her enjoyment showed in her expression. And that was a good thing. He could sense she liked him, but there was nothing like a physical reaction to confirm it.
* * *
DEV WAS HELPING Sloan clean up after the unexpectedly delicious dinner in the kitchen when the phone rang. Instantly, her hands froze in the suds of the water she was washing the dishes in.
“Could you get that, Sloan?” He was closer to the wall telephone and his hands were dry. Her gut twisted. Was the call from Cade Garner? Her breath hitched as she heard Sloan talk in low tones, his brow wrinkling.
When he hung up, he said, “They positively identified Bart Gordon’s fingerprints on one of those soda cans we found in the forest.” He walked over to her. “At least we know,” Sloan said, placing his hand on her shoulder.
Desperately needing his touch, Dev dried her hands on the towel and turned around. “Did he say anything else?”
“Well, there were no fingerprints in your apartment. Cade thinks Gordon wore latex gloves. He didn’t think to wear them in the forest, though. It means he’s sloppy, and that will get him caught sooner, not later.”
Dev moved toward Sloan, wanting his arms around her. He didn’t disappoint her. Closing her eyes, she leaned into his chest, placed her cheek against the roughened weave of his shirt. She inhaled, wanting the scent of him filling her because it automatically chased the fear out of her. “At least we know...” Dev slid her arms around his waist, exhausted by the terror. There was no safe place and Dev knew it. “Now,” she whispered unsteadily, “I worry about the person who will be assigned to protect me, Sloan.” Dev pulled away, drowning in the dark, stormy blue of his eyes. When he lifted his spare fingers and threaded them through her loose hair, it soothed her rising fear.
“Gal, don’t go there. Whoever is with you, knows the score. You aren’t going anywhere without an armed escort.” He caressed her hair, leaning down, placing a kiss on the top of her head. “It’s going to be all right.”
“I just want it to go away,” Dev whispered, her voice taut with barely concealed emotion. “I don’t want anyone else hurt. All I want is to be able to live my life in peace and not keep looking over my shoulder, Sloan. God, I’m so tired of this!” she choked out, burying her head against him.
Sloan’s arms tightened around her. She felt his lips trace her hairline, sending tiny flames wherever he barely brushed her skin. He stirred her affection for him. Despite everything, her heart ached to share so much more with him, but she was putting Sloan in danger. She lifted her head, staring up into his narrowed eyes. “I’ve put you in danger, too, Sloan. We’ve barely known each other three months.” She grimaced. “This probably wasn’t what you signed on for with me.” Dev saw a lazy smile tug at the corners of his mouth.
Sloan lightly traced the high curve of her cheekbone with his finger. “Gal, don’t you go worrying about me. All right?” His voice deepened and he released her, framing her face with his large hands. “I am exactly where I want to be with you, Dev. By now, you know without question that I care for you, don’t you?”
As his warm, roughened hands cradled her face, they sent streamers of heat down her neck, flooding into her breasts, the flames turning molten in her clenching lower body. “I—wasn’t sure. I wanted a serious relationship with you, Sloan. We haven’t had much time to talk...to really sit down and hear what’s in one another’s heart and mind.” Dev felt mesmerized by his large black pupils ringed with cobalt blue as she felt the intensity of Sloan’s emotions swirling around her. He was so close. All she had to do was lean scant inches upward and...kiss him. How Dev wanted to kiss him again! She’d never been kissed like that in her life, and she hungered for more, right down to the tips of her toes.
“You’re right,” Sloan said thickly, staring into her widening green eyes. “But time doesn’t always matter. I’ve been attracted to you since the day I met you, Dev. I’ve been hoping all along what I was feeling wasn’t just me wishing it was so. I needed to hear those words from you, gal.” He lifted his chin, staring over her head for a moment, struggling to find the right words. His gaze swept across her sweet face, those deep green eyes luminous with something he was afraid to name. It was love. Sloan was sure of it. He swallowed. “Don’t ever question my loyalty to you, Dev. I have your back. I always will. I’m here for you in any way you need me to be. Just say the word...”
Dev couldn’t tear her gaze from Sloan’s, feeling an incredible, almost euphoric energy suddenly embrace them. Her heart was pounding and she wanted to kiss him but was afraid to. She was more afraid of herself, worried she’d be unable to stop once she invested her heart in Sloan. But she knew she would do just that. His mouth was so strong looking and yet his touch so gentle. Right now, Dev needed that, but she couldn’t ask. Instead, she lifted her hand, gently curving it down the expanse of his hard jaw, watching his eyes suddenly constrict upon her. She felt Sloan tense, as if controlling himself for her sake.
“I didn’t want you doing this because you thought you had to,” Dev admitted unsteadily, searching his face, feeling the heat and masculinity of him surrounding her. Wanting her. Right now, she felt dampness between her thighs, shocked that just being in his arms could cause that kind of powerful sexual reaction. Dev trusted Sloan with her life. Literally. He was sensitive to her and seemed to know what she needed, even if she didn’t.
Sloan released her and caught her hand, pressing a kiss to the back of it. “You’re hardly a burden, Dev.” He released her hand. “Feel like some dessert?” Because if he didn’t get on some safe ground with her, he was going to slip his arms beneath Dev and carry her into his bedroom and make love with her until they were exhausted. Her cheeks were flushed and he felt her sudden yearning for him. It was clearly etched in her green eyes. And her lips had parted moments earlier, as if silently asking him to kiss him. Oh, Sloan had seen the signs, but he’d waited. Because in their situation, Dev’s stress was coloring their need for one another, and he knew it. Maybe not in a bad way, however. The danger was pushing them together a lot faster than normal. But he needed to be careful. Did Dev see him only as her protector, and not someone who could hold her heart? Sloan didn’t know yet.
And above all, he wanted Dev’s heart, not just her body, although it was hell on him not having her right now, the painful tightness in his lower body proof of that.
“Dessert?”
Even Dev’s voice was wispy sounding, that far-off look in her eyes telling him that her body was just as riled as his from their touching one another. Kissing her lightly along her hairline and her brow had been his private pleasure. Oh, how much more Sloan wanted to kiss her. “I’ve got some vanilla ice cream in the freezer and some good hot fudge. Kind of a sundae without the nuts and whipped cream?” he coaxed, moving into the kitchen.
Mouse whined.
Dev turned, looking at the dog as he sat up, his big black ears pointed up and his eyes intently watching as Sloan walked into the kitchen. She heard Sloan laugh as he opened the refrigerator and bent down to look into the freezer for the ice cream.
“What are you laughing about?” Dev asked, walking in to join him.
“Mouse. He’s a sucker for ice cream. It’s his downfall.” He pulled out a half gallon of it and handed it to Dev.
She smiled a little, warmed by that information. “And you know this how?”
Straightening, Sloan shut the refrigerator and gave her a merry look. “I spoil him.” Going to the cabinet he drew down two bright yellow bowls and set them on the countertop. Dev came up and handed him the ice cream.
“How much do you give him?”
“Oh,” Sloan said, digging out a couple of scoops for each bowl, “maybe a tablespoon. No fudge, because as you know chocolate can kill a dog. He only gets some after I finish my bowl.”
“Big alpha male here,” Dev teased, pulling two spoons from the drawer.
“That’s right, in his eyes, I am,” Sloan said, raising a brow as he took the ice cream back to the freezer. “If I gave it to Mouse first, he’d think he’d been upgraded to alpha and I’d be instantly demoted to being a beta male.”
Smiling, Dev took the jar of fudge and opened it. “Feed yourself first around your dog so that he or she always knows you’re the alpha,” she said, as if reading from a manual. All handlers were taught that rule. Alphas always ate first in dogdom and in wolf packs. All the beta dogs and wolves were second and waited their turn until after the alpha had eaten and was sated.
Walking over to her, Sloan watched Dev drizzle the thick fudge over her three scoops. Nothing Dev did wasn’t beautiful to watch. Her hair shone beneath the lights, blue color dancing here and there among the thick, full strands. She was relaxed now, no longer focused on Gordon. Inwardly, Sloan breathed a small sigh of relief. As he took the jar of fudge from her, their fingers touching, he wanted to do much more for Dev. “Are you an ice-cream gal by any chance?” he asked.
Dev smiled and picked up her bowl and spoon. “Like Mouse, ice cream is my downfall.”
“Well,” Sloan said with a chuckle, “we’ll let you eat when I do. You’re the alpha female around here.”