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The glare of the sun filtered through the bright blue curtains. But what had woke Keira from a sound sleep had been the heavenly smell of bacon. She sat up. Breathed in deeply, yup, she wasn’t mistaken, bacon.
The covers seemed to fly off her legs on their own, she was in such a hurry to get out of bed. Where had her robe gone? Oh, on the chair, right where she left it.
Rich hickory aroma pulled her down the hall and to the kitchen. Oh man, what a sight. Standing at the stove, with only an apron on, Tyler stood flipping something. Keira had a full view of his bare ass. Nice.
He whistled loudly covering the sound of her footsteps as she sidled up behind him to give him a huge pinch on the bare buttocks. He squealed. She wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t heard it. Such a girly sound coming out of such a nice hunk. She burst out laughing.
“What was that for?”
“You shouldn’t have your butt hanging out, it was just too tempting.” Balancing on her tiptoes she looked over his shoulder. “Oh look at those pancakes. What did I do to deserve such a breakfast?”
Tyler turned so their bodies molded together. His erection, through the thin cotton of the apron, evident. “Would you like me to put breakfast in the warmer and remind you?”
“Oh, that’s even more tempting. But I’m starved, can we play after?” Kissing his nose just seemed like the thing to do.
Or it would have been if he hadn’t moved so that his lips captured hers instead. Jolts shot from her mouth to curl her toes. Man, he could kiss. By the time it ended, she had to lean on him to get her balance.
Tyler gently helped her to the chair at the table, then began whistling again. With a flourish, he place a dish in front of her, hot coffee poured and juice to the side. It almost felt like a five star restaurant. Well if he’d been dressed properly, but hell, she wasn’t going to complain.
“This is delicious. You can cook pasta and breakfast, anything else? Your momma must be proud, did she teach you?”
“So which question do you want me to answer first?” He winked at her as he buttered his toast.
“Doesn’t matter. These pancakes melt in your mouth.” Her eyes closed as she savored the buttery taste. “It’s a good thing I’ve never had to worry about gaining weight.”
“My mom says as soon as a woman hits thirty, doesn’t matter, she gains weight.”
Keira sat in her chair, her eyes popped open and she glared at him. “Thanks for making me lose my appetite.”
“Darlin’ you’d look good to me even if you were a little plump, more to hang on to.”
“Oh, that’s nice to hear.” Keira rolled her eyes at him and continued to eat.
Might as well enjoy it until her body proved she’d have to start counting calories. So far she didn’t have to worry. Was there any wood to knock on? She leaned over and rapped her knuckles on the table leg.
“It’s pretty sturdy. I don’t think you need to worry.” Tyler looked under to see if something was wrong.
“I was just thinking, nothing to do with the table.” One more piece of bacon, then she wouldn’t be able to stuff more in her mouth. She wiped her mouth with her napkin and sipped on the hot coffee. “What do you have on the agenda today?”
“You mean after I remind you of why you deserved this wonderful breakfast?”
Keira laughed, “Yes.”
“If I have enough energy I think I’ll mow dear brother’s lawn.”
“I noticed the garden looked a little neglected. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to get dirty up to my elbows. I’d love to take care of the plants, do a little weeding.”
“You are sick.” He picked up their plates, rinsed and put them into the dishwasher.
Once he cleared everything away, Tyler turned and slowly walked toward her. He had a gleam in his eye she couldn’t resist. Her throat went dry. The drumming in her ears matched the beat of her heart. He picked her up in his arms, and strode down the hall to the bed.
*****
The sleepy little town didn’t look like much. It had been easy to find the home of Matthew Beckett. Batt had driven by and then parked on a side street and walked back. If he hadn’t known they were there, he would have sworn the house was empty.
They were in for a wakeup call. There was only one neighbor and he’d seen a woman pull a late model car out of the drive a few moments ago. No one to hear anything.
How to do it? Did he break in? Wait until they came outside, if they do?
He decided to wait a while. No use taking the chance of them hearing him pick the lock. There was no sound coming from the house, no radio, or television. There was always the chance they had gone for a walk, after all they’d been out of the cabin when he’d arrive. No, he’d not be unprepared again.
*****
Smack!
“Ouch, what was that for?” Keira rubbed her exposed butt cheek. It probably had his handprint on it. “I’ll be bruised for life.”
“Whatever.” He chuckled as he climbed out of bed. “I thought you were anxious to pull weeds.”
“You didn’t need to spank me. You could have said very nicely. ‘Keira, love, let’s go putter in the garden.’ Would that have been so hard?”
“That sounded like a sissy boy. I’m a manly man.” He put his arm up and flexed his pecs.
“You’re incorrigible.” She climbed out on her side and grabbed her robe. “I’m going to take a shower.”
“Before you get dirt up to your elbows?”
“I need to wake up. I’ll take another one later.”
“Okay, well I’m not going to bother before I go out and get all sweaty.” He pulled his jeans on, put a shirt on, and turned at the door. He blew her a kiss as he left.
*****
There was a shed out in the yard if Tyler remembered correctly, that would be the best place to look. He opened the door and looked around. Everything seemed to be as it should be, but there was no reason to assume it wouldn’t. He trusted Gabe, and no one would find out where they were.
Great, who would have thought the shed would be locked. Weren’t small towns the places you always read about that no one locked their doors? Now he had to figure out where the blasted key was. Head lowered, he watched his feet as he strode the way he’d come.
Shoes? He began at the shoes and let his gaze lift to look straight into ice blue eyes. Battista. Where in the hell had he come from? There he stood in his path. Keira was in the shower, no way to warn her. Thank God they’d made a plan.
Now all he had to do was lead the man away from the house. Training kicked in and without blinking an eye in warning, Tyler shot his leg out. Right on target, the knee caps. Batt went down hard.
Tyler took advantage and raced away from the property. Zigzagging as he went. A zing went by his ear. Shit. That was too close. Battista must have a silencer on it, there was no accompanying bang. Damn, there would be no warning to Keira. He had to keep going.
He looked to his left, then to his right for a hiding place to give her time to figure out something was wrong. He just hoped she followed the plan and didn’t wait to help.
A sharp pain tore through the side of his arm, just a graze. Panting breaths pushed through his teeth as he ran, but he refused to slow. Rounding a corner he found what he sought, a grove of maple trees. Tyler ducked behind a large trunk. He had to calm the heavy breathing before Batt heard.
Leaning around as far as he dared and not be seen, he watched the hit man. Batt was poking around in the foliage as if he expected Tyler to hide in a bush.
Tyler looked at the house and almost couldn’t catch his breath. She stood at the door. No Keira, don’t come out.
Batt paused and turned, he’d seen her, damn. Making as much noise as possible, Tyler ran out of his safe haven.
“Hey you missed. I thought you were DeLuca’s hired gun, guess I was wrong.” He didn’t care how stupid he sounded as long as it drew Batt’s attention away from Keira.
Batt and Keira looked at him at the same time. Tyler took off in the opposite direction, hoping two things. She’d follow the plan and escape to safety. The second, to be able to find another safe group of trees because he hadn’t thought to bring his gun out to mow the damn lawn.
His love had cost him his edge.
Leaves crackled as he ran, it was too loud to know if it was all from him or if Battista followed. A whiz of hot air stung his cheek, and he had his answer. Come on, zigzag or the next...
Searing pain plunged into his back, flesh ripped as the bullet made its way through his body. There was a sensation of floating as he began to fall, the air forced from his lungs on impact. Dimly, he heard a scream and wondered if it was him. Then nothing but blackness.
*****
A scream escaped as she watched helplessly, Tyler’s body slam forward then hit the ground. Batt turned, she slammed the door shut.
Bile bubbled in her stomach as she ran down the stairs to get her things as planned. She couldn’t be sick. Not in the basement, he’d know where she went.
Grimacing as she swallowed it down, but continued to the door. Her bag was where she’d left it, a light overcoat of Matthew’s sat on top. She drew it on, pulled the ball cap on over her bright hair, picked up the small suitcase and opened the door. Half-expecting to see Batt standing there, but she was in luck.
Careful not to make noise, she took the stairs in a slightly bended position. She stopped when the side yard came into view. Drawing in a breath, she looked around and eased out of the stairwell. Then she heard a shot.
Batt’s gun hadn’t made a noise when he shot Tyler. Was there a second gun?
Flattening herself against the brick, she inched to the edge to look around the corner and see across the backyard where she’d seen Tyler gunned down. She swallowed at the memory, blinking away the tears that threatened. She didn’t have time.
A man in a coat that looked similar to the one she had on walked toward—God, Batt was face up on the ground. The man kicked the body, then turned in the direction of the house. He must know she was still there.
Ducking before he saw her, she went to the front and walked away from the house as calmly as possible. The idea was to look like a neighbor out for a stroll. She’d added dark glasses to her eyes, and with the coat, the plan had been she’d look more like a man.
With each step her stomach gurgled, there was no way she’d be able to make it much further. Taking a chance to look over her shoulder, no one followed.
Could a heart burst from shock? She could feel hers bleeding, it was such a burning sensation. Ahead she saw a church, she didn’t care what religion it was, she needed a place to sit and collect herself.
Taking a deep breath, she pulled the double door open and stepped in. Shadows cloaked the interior making the pews almost invisible. Stained glass windows of dark colors filtered out what little light of the day was left.
The front was too far, sliding into the back she let her body melt into the seat. There was nothing, no awareness in her body. It was entirely numb.
It was safe to cry now, but the tears wouldn’t come. In its place, anger. Why had God done this? When her family had finally become, if not prosperous, at least able to have the little extras, her parents were killed. Now she’d found love, barely had time to know him, but enough to know she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.
Tyler had been taken by a monster.
Keira would find the crime lord that ordered it, he’d pay.
She felt a presence by her side. Startled she slid away and looked sideways only to encounter kindly brown eyes in a bit of a haggard face. It didn’t matter how long he’d been sitting there with her, nothing would ever matter again.
“You look mighty sad, dear. Is there anything I can do for you?” He asked when she had just looked toward the front.
“He won.” Not caring that she didn’t make sense. She really didn’t want to talk.
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“Yes. He took something good and special from the world.”
“Well...”
Keira turned her head and glared at him. “And don’t say the Lord works in strange and mysterious ways. He wouldn’t have wanted this. If he did, he’s no God of mine.”
The priest seemed taken aback by her speech. After thinking about it, she wouldn’t retract the words. What she said was true. All Tyler did was try to protect her by leading Batt away from the house. He was killed. And Battista was shot by the other man, but as long as the crime organization knew she was free, nowhere would be safe.
“I don’t know what happened to cause such strong feelings, but you’ve come to the right place to work them out.” He patted her on the shoulder and then stood.
“Father, I’m sorry for my outburst. I’m not sorry for what I said, but I shouldn’t take my anger out on you.” Keira tried to smile, but her face was still numb.
“Do you have a place to stay?”
“I need to find a bus station, do you know where one is?”
“Over in the next county. You’ll need a ride. If you’ll give me a few minutes to lock up I can drive you.”
“You would?”
“Of course, I’ll be back in a jiffy.” He walked to the side of the chapel and turned “My name is Father Augustus.” And then he disappeared behind a door.
The small kindness let loose the dam of her emotions. Her chin dropped to her chest, hands clasped in her lap, she let the tears fall.
Her back felt like someone was running a baseball bat over it as the sobs racked through her body. All the tears had been spent, the sobs that were so violent were dry.
A hand placed on her shoulder caused her to jump away sliding off the bench and onto the kneeler. Her head whipped around, the fear tasted metallic. Or was that blood from biting her lip?
“Easy.” It was Father Augustus holding out his hand to help her up. After a moment, her breathing calmed enough to reach out and let herself be helped to a standing position.
“Sorry, I thought you were someone else.”
“The man who won?”
“No, the man who killed him.”
She didn’t explain any further. The car was on the side of the church. She kept a sharp lookout for the man in the overcoat, but saw nothing.
For the most part the drive was in silence. Keira didn’t know what to say. Her body was still in a state of numbness.
By the time, Father Augustus pulled into a parking lot at the small station the sun had sunk and dusk had settled. He turned to her, “Where are you going?”
“Home,” She said simply, opened the door and paused. “Thank you for bringing me. You’ll never know how your kindness has helped.”
Shutting the door, she walked to the station without looking back. The clerk told her there was one more bus out. It was only going as far as Indiana, but from there she could get a ticket to Nebraska.
“You better hurry miss, it leaves in five minutes.” The clerk shoved the ticket under the security window at her.
“Thank you,” Keira said and followed the signs to the boarding area.
The moon slid behind a cloud, and the interior of the bus was plunked into darkness. Only a few people were on it, and those were asleep. Keira gazed sightlessly at the scenery as it passed by.
She couldn’t believe the bus was on the main road that would take them past Matthew’s road on the way to the Interstate.
Flashing red and blue lights colored the trees in the distance. As the bus drew near, she realized there were police cars down the road by the house. Straining to look as they passed, she only got a brief impression of gathered people.
At least they’d found Tyler’s body. She closed her eyes and imagined his smiling green ones looking down at her as they made love. A lonely tear traced a trail down her check, and then another joined it.