Innocent Next Door (Military Men Book 1) (19 page)

The weird thing was Dare hadn’t rung to ask about the book. If he’d found something wrong, wouldn’t he have contacted her? Apart from a hurried phone call, canceling a dinner date, she hadn’t heard from him.

He hadn’t mentioned the book.

After soaking the roses for way too long, Nikolai still hadn’t arrived home. Summer weeded the garden, a chore she hated and mowed the lawn. Still the big, bad SAS man hadn’t returned.

Darkness crept over the landscape, cloaking the trees and paddocks with the same murky gray. Birds fell silent and drivers on the country road switched on their headlights.

Still no Nikolai.

She wandered inside and flicked on a light. After toeing off her red canvas shoes, she headed for the kitchen. Halfway along the passage, she paused and turned back to lock the door.

The strident ring of the phone pulled her from thoughts of murder.

“Hello.”

“Hello, Summer.”

“Who is this?” The hoarse whisper brought a rash of goose bumps. The fact that the man—whoever he was—knew her name sent terror skittering on the heels of the goose bumps.

“Watch your back, girlie.”

“Who is this? If you don’t stop, I’ll—”

The phone thumped down on the other end, leaving her talking to herself. Swallowing, she replaced the phone. There had been several heavy breathing calls. This was the first time her caller had spoken.

Summer glanced out the kitchen window. What if Nikolai wasn’t coming home tonight?

Although she was tired of orders from her family and Nikolai, there was the odd time when their bossiness felt right.

Even confiding her fears would help. She picked up the newspaper she’d purchased during her lunch hour. Not that it had given many details of the murder.

Man Found Dead in Bookshop
.

The owner of the Pen and Quill bookshop was found in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Police suspect theft was the motive and are chasing up several leads.

Summer dropped the
Herald
back onto the bench top with a sigh. Theft, they said. But what if it hadn’t been theft? What if murder was the motive, and the culprits had made it look like a burglary to throw the police off the trail?

The faint sound of a car pierced her troubled mind. She ran for the window. The vehicle slowed, its headlights piercing the darkness and highlighting the hedge that ran the length of the roadside boundary.

It wasn’t Nikolai.

Summer stilled before she realized with the light on in the kitchen and the curtains and blinds wide open, anyone would be able to see inside the house. Ducking out of sight, she leapt for the light switch and flipped it off. It took precious seconds for her eyes to adjust to the dark, and by the time she reached the window, the headlights were no longer visible.

The car was gone.

Or was it?

Her stomach knotted, her imagination conjuring dragons and monsters lurking in the dark. She peered into the front garden and scrutinized the shadows.

Nothing.

But that didn’t mean a thing.

Uncle Henry had so many bushes and hedges in his flourishing garden. Anyone with nefarious purposes could hide or skulk close to the house without detection.

A sharp creak sounded.

Shit
. Had she shut the gate between the property boundaries after visiting Nikolai earlier? Or had someone else left the catch unfastened?

She licked her lips as she tried to remember. The sound repeated. A ghostly rat-tat-tat. Summer clasped and unclasped sweaty palms. Overactive imagination. That was what she hoped.

Voices drifted on the air and a vehicle engine fired to life. Light flooded the area behind the hedge and it bled through the greenery to her side, casting huge black shadows. The car drove away and some of the tension bled from her tense limbs. The driver had probably stopped to answer his cell phone or for some equally innocent reason.

She expelled a breath. Telling herself to quit the drama queen act, she made her way to her bedroom and started preparations for bed. She was about to climb into bed when she decided it would be a good idea to have her phone handy. She switched on the passage light and when she saw it was clear, ran into the kitchen, scooped up the phone and tore back to bed.

“Get a grip, Summer.” The sound of her voice didn’t offer comfort. It just made her isolation feel more real.

The phone rang again. Summer started, and a gasp escaped before she could bite it back. The sharp peal of the phone continued. She needed to answer in case it was Uncle Henry. With a shaky hand, she stabbed the answer button and held it to her ear.

“Hello.”

“That you, Mariah?” The deep masculine voice sent ripples of apprehension writhing like snakes.

She jerked upright in bed. “I think you have the wrong number.”

“Don’t think so. It’s right here on the telephone booth. Mariah Twining will jump-start your day.”

“No, I—”

“How much you charge for extras? You do extras dontcha?”

Summer hung up. Almost immediately, the phone rang again. Uncle Henry had rung a few nights ago. It was improbable he’d call again in the same week.

She turned off the phone, closed her eyes and tried to ignore the empty sound of the night…

Suddenly, she jerked awake. The crick in her neck told her she’d fallen asleep with her neck at a weird angle. Tension seeped through her, the silence in her dark room broken by the tick of her alarm clock. She strained her ears for anything out of the ordinary.

When nothing sounded out of place, she fumbled for the bedside lamp. Almost one in the morning. Surely, Nikolai would be home by now.

She reached for her phone and jerked her hand back. Ringing him was admitting she required help because of this mess.

“Stop being stupid. You can’t carry on like this.”

Biting her lip, she reached for the phone and punched the speed dial button for Nikolai.

“Yeah?”

“It’s me. Summer.”

“What is it?” He sounded alert—a good man to have in her corner.

“Can… Could you come over?” The last of her words rushed out so quickly they tangled on her tongue. Asking for help sent a quiver of anxiety through her too. What if he turned around and told her uncle? Uncle Henry would feel obliged to ring her parents. It would be like a chain reaction if she didn’t handle things with speed and decisiveness.

“Now?”

“Yes, please,” she whispered.

“Make coffee. I’ll be there in five.” The phone crashed down on his end.

Summer pulled a face and saluted with her free hand. “Yes, sir.” She placed the phone on the bedside table and dressed. The idea of meeting the big, bad SAS man in her nightie made her feel weird, even though he’d seen her naked. A knock sounded on the door as she plugged in the coffeemaker.

“What is it?” Nikolai demanded, pushing past her.

Summer stared at him wordlessly, her body responding to his nearness even more now that she knew what it felt like to touch his skin and run her fingers across his muscles. His dark hair was a wild jumble of damp curls that made her palms itch to touch. His jeans hugged his hips, his muscular thighs and no doubt his butt if he’d taken the time to do a twirl. He hadn’t bothered to don a shirt, and his hairless chest rose and fell with each breath.

“If you’ve finished undressing me, maybe you could get to the point.”

Had she made a mistake? Maybe she should’ve called home.

“Summer, I haven’t slept for hours. Please spit out whatever you need to say then I can get some sleep. Did you make coffee?”

“It’s almost ready.” She shut the front door and walked past him, careful not to touch while passing.

As she led the way to the kitchen, she felt his gaze. A tingle of excitement sprang to life inside despite the harsh words between them. Lord, she missed him. She’d tried to tell herself she could get by without him, but the truth—the truth was she wanted to jump his bones. More than that, she wanted an exclusive relationship. But that wasn’t going to happen, not when he insisted on living in the shadows of the past.

In the kitchen, Summer poured coffee. All the time, she was aware of his enigmatic gaze, his scent of raw male and soap, and the sounds he made as he settled onto a stool at the breakfast bar.

She hesitated. Where to start? At the beginning. Yes, the beginning.

“I met Dare because somehow I received his book special order instead of mine.”

“That is how you met the clotheshorse?” His brow wrinkled as she placed down the mug of coffee. “How did you know they were his books?”

“The order had a card inside. I went to the address, and that’s when I met him. We exchanged packages and went from there.”

A low growl vibrated in the air between them. “And?”

“Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”

“Summer.” Nikolai placed his mug on the breakfast bar with a soft clunk. He prowled toward her.

She found herself backing up until the kitchen cabinets blocked her retreat. Seconds later, Nikolai’s hands thumped either side of her, effectively caging her in place. She swallowed.

“Spit out your problem. I don’t have time for games.”

“Since I frequent the bookshop often, I’ve picked up the odd package for him. Last week, I brought Dare’s books home. We were going to go out for dinner, but he had to cancel because a business contact wanted a meeting.”

Nikolai’s jaw clenched. “I told you the man was bad news.”

Her mood veered sharply to anger. “Look, this is hard enough without you saying ‘I told you so’.”

He gave a clipped nod, but didn’t move. Having his bulk so close made her nervous. Actually, that wasn’t quite the truth. He made her think of sex—sweaty bodies sliding together in a sensual dance. Her body. His body.

Summer swallowed convulsively and felt the inevitable heat swamp her face. She hurried into speech to hide her unease at his proximity.

“I don’t know why, but I opened the package. It was the same title as the first book. A book on fly-fishing.”

“Fly-fishing.” Nikolai showed his opinion with a sharp snort. “Hard to believe the clotheshorse likes standing up to his waist in icy mountain water.”

Summer agreed but didn’t comment. “It made me think. I couldn’t believe Dare would buy a book for one of his brothers or his father. They didn’t strike me as fishermen either. The more I thought about it, the weirder it seemed. So, I found another fly-fishing book and replaced it, and yesterday the owner of the bookshop was found murdered in his shop.”

“You did what?” Nikolai’s tempered voice was far worse than a bellow.

“I exchanged the books,” she whispered. “I think it’s my fault the man was murdered.”

“Fuck.” Nikolai moved without warning, stalking across the kitchen floor with a distinct hitch in his stride. “What did you do with the book?”

“It’s in my room.”

“You’d better get it.”

“But there’s nothing different about it. I’ve checked.”

“Let me look. Another set of eyes.”

Nikolai watched the sway of her hips as she hurried away to get the book. The urgent need to throw her over his shoulder and lock her away somewhere safe pounded through him. The situation she described stunk to high heavens, his senses screeching danger.

Summer appeared minutes later with the book and handed it to him.
Fly-Fishing in New Zealand
. He checked the book. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, yet like Summer, his gut screamed there was something odd.

He placed the book on the table between them and noticed Summer stared at it as though it were a rabid rat, poised to leap on her and nip. “What do you know about the murder?”

“There wasn’t much in the
Herald
.” She stood, picked up a paper off the kitchen counter, and after scanning the first few pages, handed it to him.

Nikolai read it and glanced at Summer. Her face was pale with a fine dusting of freckles visible on the bridge of her nose and cheeks. His gut twisted. She was intelligent enough to know she was in danger.

He knew it too.

“You can’t stay here alone.” He captured her face in his hand and gently forced her to meet his gaze. “I know you value your independence, but it’s too dangerous for you here on your own. If Dare’s involved, and we have to assume he is, he’ll be eliminating every possibility. You’ll be on that list.”

He saw her swallow once and then again. “I know. Nikolai, what am I going to do?”

The underlying terror in her voice tugged at him. Responsibility sat uneasily on his shoulders as he shuffled through possible solutions. Hell, what if he screwed up again?

He shoved the thought aside. He’d do what he did on a mission, what he was trained to do—plan objective. Carry out objective.

“I think one of Jake’s brothers is based at Auckland Central. I’ll start things rolling. I want you to pack a bag. You’ll have to stay with me.” And he’d have to try to keep his hands to himself.

He glanced at her, his cock sitting up with clear expectation, pressing against his zipper until he had to make a clandestine move for comfort. Yeah, no problem—as long as she reverted to her sack dresses he’d have no problems at all.

“Nikolai, I know it makes sense not to stay here, but I can’t stay at your house.”

“Why not?” The rejection stung. “Don’t you trust me?”

Summer came to him then and before he could blink, plopped on his lap. His arms came around her automatically, and it was like coming home—her flowery scent, her soft feminine curves, her butt rubbing against his militant cock.

He closed his eyes briefly and fought to remember the dangerous situation Summer was in. She needed a friend right now, not a lover.
But couldn’t he be both?

“My asthma is acting up lately. I don’t want to risk the paint smell setting off an attack. It would make me even more vulnerable.”

“Okay. Pack a bag. We’ll go to Jake’s and cadge a room there.”

“What about the book?”

“We’ll take it with us. I’ll wait for you then grab a few things from my place.”

Summer nodded, and climbed off his knee. He wanted to protest her leaving and grab her back. But he did neither.

His mission was to keep her safe, and that was all.