Authors: Susan A. Bliler
Conn winked at her as he took up his fork. “
A
’
hau
.”
They ate in silence for several minutes. Aries devoured her pe
rfectly cooked steak that seeped
warm juice. Her baked potato with sour cream didn’t last much longer, and she was
halfway through her salad with ranch dressing and crunchy croutons before she stopped to t
ake a healthy drink of her soda
and noticed that Conn hadn’t touched his food.
Her startled eyes shifted from his full plate to her nearly empty plate, “Oh God!” Her hand gripped her stomach and she dropped her fork, “Did you drug me again?”
Conn erupted into laughter, “No!” He was trying to sound reassuring but it was hard to believe when he was laughing so hard.
Finally, he sobered.
“No, Aries it’s not contaminated in any way.”
Pulling her brows together,
her eyes dropped to his plate. “Then why aren’t you eating?”
Conn shoved the plate away from him as he slowly stood
crossing to lean against the fridge.
“Beats the hell
outta
me.”
“But,” Aries turned to eye him in confusion, “you must be hungry. Mr.
StoneCrow
said you haven’t eaten since before you found me.” She quickly did the math in her head, “It’s been at least three days.”
Conn sighed, shoving a hand roughly into his hair, “I know. It must be the flu or som
e bug I picked up in the jungle.” It was a lie and he knew it. Walker’s were immune to illness.
“
I just have no desire
to
eat.”
“You don’t look sick.”
Conn shook his head, “No, I don’t feel it either but something’s off.”
Aries turned back and stood to pu
sh
his plate back to his place at the table, “Well, maybe if you tried a few bites it’ll trigger your appetite.”
Conn
moved to
lean a hip against the kitchen counter and smiled at her apparent concern, “I tried it while I was cooking. Made me sick.”
“I could make you some soup
, if you’ve got some.
”
Conn
stared at
her
for long moments before
finally
shaking
his head.
“Come on
, it’s been three days. There must be something you’re dying to have.” Aries turned to watch as his eyes slid from her face down her throat to rest on her chest. Her cheeks flamed as she turned back to the table and lifted a hand to her chest to ensure everything was where it was supposed to be.
Shit!
One of her nipples had popped free of its
insufficient
confines and mortification seared her as sh
e knew with certainty that it’
s what Conn had been
eyeing
.
Aries shrugged
feigning nonchalance
tucking herself back in
before taking another drink of her Coke
and pretending not to notice the hunge
r she’d seen in
his
eyes
that hadn’t been a yearning for food.
“Well luckily for you ther
e happens to be an overbearing d
octor on the estate that is just dying to run some tests. I suggest you take my place
and let her
draw
your
blood and find out what’s wrong.”
“I’ve got a better idea.” Conn shove
d
off the counter, “I’m going to see how much hot water you left me.” He was heading for the hallway, “I suggest you finish your dinner.” He stopped where he could still see her, “And Aries?”
She turned to stare at him.
“If you leave this suite while
I’m showering
, I will track you down
. And I promise you,
you will
regret making me
chase you again.” He didn’t say anything else, he didn’t need to. He disappeared down the hall and as Aries was finishing her salad she heard the shower
blast to life
.
***
In the bathroom Conn quickly peeled off his clothes and stepped under the hot spray of the shower. He smiled knowing Aries had hoped to leave him w
ith only cold water.
StoneCrow
was well equipped and if there
was one thing it could guarantee it was a hot shower.
He lathered shampoo into his hair as he thought of the slight woman in the kitchen of his suite.
Damn she’d looked good in the tight stretch pants Eden had provided.
She was one of t
he smallest most unassuming wome
n he’d ever laid eyes on, but her looks were deceiving. She fought harder and was more cunning than most men he’d captured. Hell, she was more cunning than half the men he worked with.
The memory of her rolling out of the helicopter and the looks on the faces of his men had him smiling and shaking his head. He’d been certain
James
had fallen in love the instant Aries dropped from the cabin door.
He forced the smile from his lips as he ducked his head under the spray. He’d been smiling too much lately, it was out of character and if he’d noticed
then his men certainly had
as well
.
Damn woman! I don’t know what the hell she did to me in that jung
le, but it needs to be remedied
quickly.
His stomach growled angrily demanding to be fed, which was cause for more concern. He’d chanced two cr
o
utons while Aries had showered and he couldn’t even formulate the saliva to
swallow
. He’d grabbed a glas
s of water and choked them down,
but that only resulted in him coughing them up moments later. He was hungry, ravished
actually
, but for some reason it was physically impossible for him to eat. So much so, that he was considering
taking
Aries’ advice
and
call
ing
Dr.
Arkinson
. Funny thing was
he knew that whatever was wrong with him had been caused the night he’d locked eyes on Aries in the jungle. It was a reaction to her, and th
at kept him from informing the D
octor or Monroe. He didn’t want to g
ive
them any more excuses to force
unwanted examinations
on Aries.
He’d given up trying to explain
to himself
the odd possessive protection he felt compelled to provide
her
. Sometime during the flight from South America to Montana, he just decided to go with it and hope
d
it would fade. Not only had it not faded, it had g
rown
worse. The mere thought of Mason even staring at he
r had him shielding her from Mason’s
view in the infirmary. He knew he was out of line, but
he
simply couldn’t control himself.
He rubbed a hand over his face as he dropped his head letting the water
beat
down o
n
him. He shook his head, laughing
in incredulity
at himself. “Keep the money, I’ll keep the woman?”
It was the first time in his career that he’d ever backed out of a deal after delivery. It was bad form, and even worse for business. He cl
enched
his teeth, the muscle at the side of his jaw working angrily. If
it
got around that he wasn’t a man of his word…
Christ, the mistake wouldn’t just affect him,
it would hurt his men as well
and that
led to one certainty
. He needed to keep his distance from
Aries
.
He exited the shower and dried quickly before dressing in a pair of black
BDU
pants, clean white t-shirt, fresh socks, and
a pair of lace-up combat boots. It was his preferred mode of dress when not ‘on-mission’. He didn’t bother running a brush through his too short black hair.
He found Aries in the living room, and Conn winced as he watched her lift a can of beer to her lips and take a drink. “You really shouldn’t be doing that.”
Aries turned to stare at him, her eyes taking in his dress. “Going somewhere?”
Conn ignored the question and stalked across the room to take the beer out of her hand.
“Hey!” She protested.
Conn crossed to the sink and poured the
remaining
beer
down the drain
, “The tranquilizers still aren’t completely out of your system. The alcohol enhances the effects.”
Aries let out an exasperated sigh as she threw her hands up and fell back into the sofa. “Great! Drugged again!”
The co
rner of Conn’s mouth lifted as
he stared at her, “It might not be that bad. You may not even notice.”
Aries lifted a hand to rub her temple. “Oh, I notice. I thought I was just getting really tired, but now that you point it out I’m feeling
a little
…fuzzy.”
Conn moved to stand in front of her. “How many did you have?”
“Three.”
“Three!”
Aries’ eyes snapped open to pin him accusingly, “Hey, you were in there a really long time!”
Conn laughed, “Well then I guess it’s a good thing you’re showered and fed.” He bent and scooped her up, drawing a shriek from her at the unexpected move.
“I
can
walk.”
Conn
strode
effortlessly down the hall
with her cradled in his arms.
“We won’t chance it.”
Anger flared to life at his
own total disregard for the pep
talk he’d given himself in the shower. He was supposed to be keeping away from her, but some part of him couldn’t help but take advantage of every excuse to touch her.
He carried her into her room and set her on the bed before peeling back the covers and moving her until she was on the sheet where
he was able to cover her up. He felt her tense at the sudden intimacy and moved away from the bed to stoke the fire, placing another log on the hearth. “Warm enough?”
“Fine, thanks.”
Conn rose and strode to the door stopping to flick off the light.
“Conn?”
“Yes?”
Aries
sat up in bed to stare at him.
“W-what is a
Walker
?”
Conn didn’t answer right away, he simply stared at her for long moments as if deciding whether to tell the truth. Finally
,
he answered
.
“
We
are Walkers.”
“We? You and your men?”
Conn’s expression tightened, “You and I Aries.
We
are Walkers.”
Aries shook her head, her mouth moving to formulate her next question as a flash of panic washed over her
featur
es
.
Conn held up his hand, “Tomorrow Aries. Tomorrow.”
“Wait!”
“What is it?”
“Is Monroe going to let Mason hurt me tomorrow?”
There was a growl to his voice. “No one is going to hurt you
!
I
won’t
allow it
.”
Then
he closed the door and left Aries on her own.
Chapter
10
Satisf
ied that Aries was secure in
her room
, Conn paced Monroe’s office on the floor above his suite. “What the fuck do you mean it’s like the rut?”
Monroe didn’t bother hiding his amusement as he smiled up from his desk a
s
his Chief of Security, King Mu
lho
l
land
, stood at his shoulder
.
“How do we explain this delicately King?”
“Fuck delicacy,” Conn cut in, “I w
ant answers and I want them now!
”
Monroe carefully set down his pen and pushed
aside the paperwork he’d been
working on. He picked up his smart
phone from where it sat on his desk and touched the screen before speaking, “
Eden
, send Dr.
Arkinson
to my office.”
Conn felt his gut wrench.
Things couldn’t be good if the D
octor was needed.