“You’re stuck with me then.” Breeana brought an ice pack to his forehead and laid it in place. “I’ll be waking you every two hours and asking you a bunch of silly questions, just to make sure you still know who, and where, you are.”
“I guess if you must, you must.” His brother had a wicked, puffy grin on his battered face. “Will you hold my hand, in case I have pain, or bad dreams during the night?”
Sully hadn’t missed the fact Breeana was already dressed for bed. Her little pajama T-shirt and shorts in thin, jade-green material were enough to give a man a heart attack. Her auburn hair was a riot of curls cascading down her back. Her shapely legs and pink toenail polish added to the fantasy. She had rushed straight from the shower when Cody sounded the alarm Theo was hurt.
Sully inhaled. She smelled like sin, pure and simple, a mixture of sensuous lotions, shampoo, and desirable woman. His vision turned red when he noticed the tent forming in Micah’s pants across the room.
No, oh no, over my dead body, cookie! Get your little Florence Nightingale tush into the bedroom and cover yourself up. I’ll stand guard in the hallway in front of your door for the night—unless you want to invite me in…
“Bree, it’s nice of you to offer, but my guys are capable of taking care of Theo. They all have medical training. Why don’t you go tuck yourself in bed with a book?”
“Sully, why don’t you shove that notion where the sun doesn’t shine?” Breeana whirled on him in a flash and went nose-to-chest with him, standing on her tip-toes for those added few inches of aggression. “You have got to be kidding me, you big idiot! My life is a mess and you really expect me, the little woman, to go to my room and read some lovey-dovey romance novel while you testosterone junkies handle what’s important?”
“Hey, I’m not saying that.”
She wants a war? Hell, I am just the man to give her one.
“But I don’t want you standing around here half-naked in front of my men. Is it too damn much to ask?”
Breeana blinked once, then twice, her hands on her hips and anger sparking her eyes. “Well, why didn’t you just say so? I’ll run upstairs and change into one of my frump outfits. Will army fatigues and combat boots do?”
Sully pulled her to his chest and murmured in her ear. “Face it, cookie, a suit of armor couldn’t hide that beautiful body of yours.”
Breeana tossed him a look that caused his guy parts to shrivel. “And how would you know, big man? Unless you’re looking in places you shouldn’t.”
Oops.
“Forget I said anything.”
“Hey, Lieutenant!” Cody hollered from across the room. He was setting up the DVD player and widescreen, a bowl of popcorn nestled against his chest. “If you don’t quit manhandling my mother, I’m going to come over there and pop you one.”
Sully sighed and released his hold on Bree. His forehead touched hers for a brief instant and he chuckled. It was going to be one hell of a long night.
****
Breeana
came into the kitchen and elbowed Theo and Sully out of the way. She wanted to see what they were cooking. Whatever it was, it smelled awful.
She lifted the lid off the soup pot. “Blechh! What is this slop? And why are there eyes staring up at me?”
“Mmm, I’ve really outdone myself this time, cookie.” Sully licked his lips and gave the concoction another stir, before laying the wooden spoon on a saucer to catch the drips. “You’re going to love it. The guys in the unit call it slumgullion
.
It’s a mishmash of whatever food’s available at any given time, especially when we’re on foreign soil or on an op.”
“Oh my gosh, it’s all I can do not to gag at the smell. You mean it’s what you eat when you’re living off the land?” she asked.
“Well, yeah. It’s a variation, because the recipe is never the same,” Sully explained.
He seemed so proud of his concoction she almost hated to burst his bubble.
“This particular slumgullion is the result of what’s available in your fridge, Bree, which included fresh trout.”
“Sully,” Theo offered, “Maybe Breeana would prefer the head and tail cut off the trout.”
“I don’t see why, bro. What with the leftover pasta, cheese, twice-fried beans, curried rice with a couple of eggs on top, I think the trout gives the dish a touch of class.”
“Kind of like a finishing garnish,” Theo agreed. “I’ll get the plates and call everyone to the table for lunch.”
“Hold it right there.” Breeana couldn’t take it anymore. If she didn’t get the putrid smorgasbord out of her kitchen, she wouldn’t be responsible for what her stomach did next. She grabbed the pot from the stove and pushed past Sully and Theo as she headed for the garbage cans at the back of the house.
“What’s the matter, Bree?” Sully asked as he opened the door. “You want to eat at the picnic table? Theo, bring the plates outside.”
Without a word, Breeana hopped down the outside stairs, bumped the lid from the closest garbage pail, and dumped the vile-smelling slumgullion into the inner bag. Then she took the pot to the outdoor tap and hosed it down.
“Cookie!” Sully croaked. “What have you done with our food?”
“Consider yourselves relieved of kitchen duty, guys. From now on, there will be no slumgullion cooked in my house. The next thing you know, Cody and his grandfather will be copying down your recipes. My stomach couldn’t take it. Any questions?”
Sully and Theo stared at each other before they shrugged their shoulders and Sully said, “Just one. What do you want to have for lunch?”
“We can order chicken from the local barbeque.”
“Well, it won’t taste nearly as good, but I guess I can make the call.” Sully muttered to Theo as he reached for the take-out menus. “Honest to God, the woman is scary. Can you believe she threw out our slumgullion?”
“You’re right, bro. Breeana obviously has no taste. Why don’t you tell the other guys what she did to our food while I order up the chicken?”
****
Sully noticed Micah trailing Cody to the door when the bell rang a half hour later. He worked from home today and had Sergeant Millette on the line. The whole working from home gig had seemed like a great plan—stay close to Bree, spend some quality time with her son—but he was in quicksand, sinking fast where she was concerned. Not the best if he wanted to maintain the professional distance he needed to do his job, but he didn’t want to leave her, which told him plainly he was in big, big trouble.
With his gaze glued to Breeana, he barely noticed the pizza boxes Cody carried when he blew by him headed for the kitchen. Still, the sight tripped something at the back of his brain.
“There’s still no sign of Hannah Grimes, Lieutenant. We’ve got an APB out on her, but so far, no luck. The woman’s disappeared without a trace.”
“Hell. Where would she go? There’s no way she vanished into thin air unless she’s dead, maybe another loose end tied off by our psycho. I want the crime lab to go over her house from top to bottom. Find me something, Jacques, and then get back to me.”
Sully hit disconnect and suddenly, it hit him. Theo had ordered
chicken
for lunch.
He leapt over the couch and stampeded to the kitchen. Cody was already downing his second slice of pizza by the time he managed to get hold of him. He knocked the pie out of the boy’s hands. Then he grabbed him around the waist and propelled him into the nearest bathroom, already shoving his finger halfway down the kid’s throat. Cody fought him tooth and nail, twisted around, and bit down hard on his finger.
“Cool it, pal! I don’t want to hurt you, but you have to get rid of the pizza. And I’d like to keep my fingers while you’re doing it.”
Breeana heard the commotion and came running. She caught on to the emergency and took control of the situation, managing to calm down her son.
“It’s okay, kiddo. Sully thinks the pizza is bad. You need to get rid of it, honey. Now. We’re right here with you.”
Cody stared at his mother and Sully. “Let me get it straight. You want me to hurl the best meal I’ve had all day?”
“You got it, tough guy; we want you to puke your guts out,” Sully insisted, fighting the urge to panic.
Cody sank to the floor in front of the toilet bowl. “Okay, back off, man. You could have just said so, instead of jumping all over me.”
Hawke stuck his head in the doorway while the boy retched up his lunch. “Micah’s got the car started and Reece is checking out the perimeter. We’re ready to roll whenever you are. Is there anything else we can do?”
“Yes,” Sully barked as he held Cody’s head. “Gather up the pizza before the dogs eat it and get it to the lab. Be sure to wear gloves, in case there are prints on the boxes.”
Theo was out in the hallway and he leaned forward over Hawke’s shoulder. “I’ll take the pizzas to the lab, bro. The other guys can ride with you to the hospital. I’ll meet you there.”
“Good idea. Thanks.” Sully reached in his pocket and threw Theo the keys to his Tahoe. “Hit the siren and burn rubber all the way.”
The boy was already pale and sweating. His legs were rubbery when Sully helped him to his feet. Whatever was in those pizzas seemed to race through his system at an alarming rate. Law waited with a cold compress to wipe Cody’s face. Breeana grabbed for it and dashed for the front door. Sully and Hawke held Cody between them and brought up the rear.
The kid stumbled and started to sway. “Uh, I don’t feel sooo good.”
Sully struggled to get a better grip on him before he slid out of his grasp. “Law, keep an eye on Breeana and call the hospital from your cell. Tell them what’s happened. We won’t know what we’re dealing with until we get the lab results, but they need to be prepared. We should be at emergency in ten minutes tops.”
He set the alarm and hit the lock on his way out the door. After settling Cody in the back seat between him and his mother, he gathered the boy to his chest, pulled out his cell phone, and called the lab. The hospital needed the results as fast as possible. Law dove for the front seat beside Micah, while Hawke and Reece brought up the rear in a second SUV. Sirens blasting, they were on their way.
****
It was six anxious hours before Breeana could let out a sigh of relief. Cody was resting in a hospital room after responding to treatment. She pulled the covers up over his lanky frame and sank down in the chair beside his bed. She clutched his hand through the guard rail and listened to the beeps of medical devices monitoring his vital signs. His stomach had been pumped and neutralized with charcoal to offset the effects of the drug. An IV dripped hydrating fluids into his arm. It had been touch and go for a while, but the doctor said he would fully recover.
“Relax. He’s going to be fine.” Sully squeezed her shoulders encouragingly.
“And what if it happens again?” Her voice constricted with fear and something else, something much stronger, the ferocity of a mother protecting her young. “The maniac almost killed my child just to get to me.”
“You’re right. It was a close call and we can’t take any more chances. But I don’t think killing Cody, or anyone else, was the bastard’s real intention. He miscalculated the dosage and used too much of the tranquilizer.” Sully moved his big hands from her shoulders to knead the knots along the back of her neck. “It is you he’s after, and
only
you. He planned to waltz into the house and grab you after we all passed out from the doctored food.”
“I don’t care what he was thinking, when the end result would have still been the same. You heard what the ER doctor said. Cody’s tox screen showed enough tranquilizers in his system to bring down a small elephant. My God, Sully, my son could have died!”
Her father barreled into the room with Hunt and Theo close on his heels, in time to catch the tail-end of their conversation. “Damn straight. You have to get him out of here, pumpkin. It’s the only way to keep him safe.”
“He won’t want to go, Dad.”
“I don’t give a horse’s patootie. I’ve already talked to a buddy of mine who runs a summer hockey camp in New Brunswick. I filled him in on the details and everything is arranged. Cody is going to camp as soon as he’s well enough, even if I have to drag him there kicking and screaming.”
Breeana agonized over making the right decision to ensure her son’s safety. Should Cody go, or should he stay? As if reading her thoughts, Sully took a stand and agreed with her father. He made no bones about it.
“It’s too dangerous for him to stay with you any longer. The faster we move him away from here, the safer he’ll be. Micah and Law are Cody’s guard detail, and they will handle his transport. They will also protect him with their lives, Bree. What do you say?”
“Hey, what’s all the yelling about?” Cody moaned from the bed. He tried to open his puffy eyes. “Can’t a guy get any sleep around here? I heard what you said and you’re wasting your time. I’m not going anywhere, Mom!”
Breeana swept the hair off his forehead and planted a kiss on his sweat-dampened brow. She watched as sleep reclaimed him, whispering against his ear. “You don’t have to go, kiddo. No one can force me to send you away.”
“What did you say? Can you hear yourself talk?” The tension in Sully’s grip jolted her as he wrapped his fingers around her biceps and tugged her to her feet. “You need to clear your head and get your priorities straight. A good meal will help, and I don’t mean hospital food. There’s a place right across the street. Your son will be fine with Law and Micah for an hour.”
“I am not leaving the room.” He edged her closer to the door before she could dig her heels into the slippery linoleum.
“Bree, I know you don’t want to leave him, but you’ll be able to see Cody’s room from the restaurant window. We won’t be far away. And Mic or Law will call us if there’s any change in his condition. I promise.”
Breeana twisted in his grasp and caught his glance. The raw concern in his eyes was enough to stall the flow of curse words threatening to spill out of her mouth. Sully cared…he really cared about them. With the realization, she released a pent-up sigh, wrapped her arms around his waist, and surrendered to an insanity that was one-hundred-percent Sullivan Sauvage.
His strong heart thumped a reassuring cadence against her ear. His big hands warmed her back and eased the panic along her spine. Such simple actions, yet her fear dissipated like mist before a rising sun.