Invisibility Cloak (23 page)

Ryder narrowed his eyes and looked at her face before he centered his attention on her lips. He bent his head down, almost touching her lips, but yanked his head up to look behind her.

“Everyone is in the kitchen,” she said softly.

“Good.” He lowered his head again and she wrapped her arms around his neck and their lips finally met. Her breasts smashed against his chest as they both fought to get even closer to each other.

Ryder pulled away first and Amanda wasn’t sure what he was doing so she went after him. Her eyes were still closed, so she didn’t understand his intent until he put both hands on her arms and cleared his throat.

Her cheeks flamed with heat when she opened her lids and looked into his chocolate eyes crinkled with amusement. That rat! He did it again.

Making her get all hot and needy.

“Who’s at the door, Mom?” Nickel came round the corner. “Hey, Ryder.” Nick came up and reached his hand out.

“Hey, buddy.” Ryder met Nick’s hand mid-way in a hearty handshake. A huge lump formed in her throat. Her son was shaking Ryder’s hand. Nickel actually initiated a mature gesture. Her eyes filled up with tears.

“Where ya been, numb-nuts?” Nickel asked as he tilted his head.

“Well, ass-wipe, if it was any of your business, I’d tell you.” Ryder leaned over and cuffed her son.

Her tears instantly dried up. “Nickel Constantine. Your mouth should be washed out with soap, young man!”

“Ah, sorry, Mom.” Nick laughed and pounded fists with Ryder and walked back in the kitchen.

“Just guy stuff, Amanda.” Ryder’s eyes twinkled. “Now, back to what we were discussing before your son interrupted us.”

“Oh you mean after you kissed me?”

“Yeah.” Ryder caged her in against the foyer wall with his arms. “Now, do you remember who I am, Miss Harris?”

“Yeah, you’re that security dude, right?” She smiled. “Ah . . . let me see. . . Ryder Stevenson?” She tapped her forefinger to her temple.

“That’s me, honey.” He leaned in for a quick kiss. “Just don’t forget again.” He stepped away and tugged her to the kitchen.

“Are you hungry?”

“Nah, I grabbed a quick bite with a friend of mine.” He stopped before he walked into the family room. “Your parents probably think I’m a jerk, don’t they?”

“No.” She shook her head. “Oh, don’t worry about them. I explained everything to them.”

“Good. So who’s Rob, then?”

“You heard that all the way on the stairs?” She laughed. “Oh my God! I cannot believe my mother still brings him up.”

“Well?” Ryder prompted as he stood there and waited.

She shifted her feet. “Oh, no one. Just a third grade boyfriend, I think.”

He grunted and grabbed her hand, pulling her into the kitchen. “Let’s see how your kids last day of school went.”

A thick strand of pleasure curled inside her when Ryder asked about her children. “Okay.”

Every man she ever dated after her divorce never asked about Sammie or Nickel. Amanda always laid it out there she had two children from the get-go whenever she dated a man and they never wanted to meet them. Never wanted to talk about them, let alone talk
to
them. She turned sharply to look at Ryder and bit her bottom lip. He really was a dream come true. Should she be worried? She shook her head and focused on her two kids standing in the kitchen.

“Hey,” Ryder said.

Amanda glanced over at him, expecting his eyes on her, but he was speaking to her daughter.

“How’d ya do today, Sammie?”

“I felt good.” Sammie strutted over to him. “Finals are tough.” Sticking her nose up in the air, she snorted. “Almost as challenging as beating an Army Ranger at pool.” And then Sammie grinned at him.

Ryder didn’t miss a beat. “Man, you must have had a tough day.” He placed his fists on his hips. “Because it is tough to beat up a Ranger, squirt.”

Amanda brought her hand up to her chest.
Squirt
. Ryder called her daughter, squirt.

Sammie’s face lit up. “Squirt?”

“Yeah,” Ryder faced her. “You got a problem with that, Sammie?” His chiseled face broke up to a huge grin. “Cause I sure as shi―” He broke off unbelievably fast and turned to look at her parents. “Beg your pardon, folks.”

They nodded. Huh? They looked stunned. Or almost in shock.

“Because I sure can’t remember your given name.” He cocked his head. “But I do remember Atomic number sixty-two, and atomic mass of one-fifty-point-thirty-five.” Ryder grinned. “I looked it up.” And then his face straightened to his hard-ass Ranger look.

Sammie dove right into his big form and wrapped her arms around his waist. Her daughter’s cherub face tilted up at him with shining eyes and gave Ryder a big warm fuzzy grin.

Amanda’s breath stopped and her heart lurched in her chest. A lump stuck mid-way in her throat as she watched Ryder tip his head down and smile down at her.

Wayne, the father of her two precious children, never interacted with his own children like this man did. She brought her hand up and waved it frantically in front of her stomach.

She couldn’t explain what she was feeling―let alone what her own body was doing to her. Her insides were all gooey. But she vowed never to fall in love again.

Never. Her body was telling her otherwise.
Traitor.

After dinner the kids begged her parents to play a round of BS with them and they more than happily agreed, since card games; especially BS was one of their favorite. Amanda was almost positive that it was her mom and dad that even
taught
Nickel and Sammie how to play the raucous card game BS at a very young age in the first place. Pulling open her kitchen drawer that held a few rubber-banded card decks, she grabbed two worn decks. They all adjourned to the family room to gather around the sofa table. Sammie and Nick sat on the carpeted floor and her parents took possession of the couch. Ryder stood behind her as they watched the other four.

Her father stuck a pencil behind his ear and expertly shuffled the cards a few times. “Are you prepared to lose, my sweet little grandchildren?” He grinned wickedly at her kids then glanced up at her. “Are you two playing?” he asked before he dealt the cards out to the kids.

Amanda glanced at Ryder, who flipped over his wrist and shook his head slowly. “Can I get a rain check, dad?”

“Sure.” The cards slid across the coffee table. “No problem. Do you kids need to do something? We got it covered here.” Her father winked at them both.

Amanda’s eyes widened. “Dad,” she said quietly and then quickly averted her gaze to her kids, who were not paying any attention to her whatsoever. Nickel and Sammie both eyed the cards they were dealt and re-arranged them in their hands.

“Oh man,” Nickel moaned. “Any way to get a new hand, Gramps?

“Grandpa!” Sammie asked excitedly, “What are we going to call this game? Bomb Squad? Bear Snort?”

“I think we should just say the real thing. Bull shit.” Nickel made a face at his little sister. “We aren’t babies anymore.”

“Nickel Constantine,” Amanda warned her son in a low voice.

Nick snorted under his breath, “Or Baby Sammie.”

Sammie ignored her brother and asked her grandparents, “Or what about Baloney Star?”

“I like that Baloney Star, Sammie.” Her father chuckled. “I don’t believe we’ve used that name before.”

Her mother gently prodded, “It’s all right, honey. We won’t leave them. Go on, if you have something to do.”

“You sure, Mom?”

“Yes, dear. Just be careful.”

“Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Anders,” Ryder said. “We shouldn’t be too long.”

“J
eremy,” Ryder said into the phone as they pulled out of the driveway. “We’re taking off now.” Nodding he said, “Thanks, buddy.”

Amanda turned to him. “What’s going on?”

“Jeremy Coolman volunteered to watch your house for me while we go talk to Virginia Sullivan.” He reached over and flicked on the monitor that sat on his dashboard. A few squiggly lines appeared on the screen and he waited a beat for the house to come into view before adding, “He’s a good friend on the HFPD. He’s the one I had a bite with earlier.”

“I met him yesterday, right?”

He nodded darting his gaze between the screen and the road. “Yeah.”

The sinuous lines morphed into a white stucco house with a red-tiled roof. Nestled in between Arizona Ash trees, two large, healthy cacti reached for the sky on either side of the home. A huge desert willow spotted with light pink flowers gracefully flanked the walkway up to the front door.

“Are you worried about something?”

“Nah, I just want to stay on top of everything, is all.” He reached out to cover her hand with his.

Amanda glanced over at the screen and her eyes widened. “Hey! That’s my house!”

“I know, darlin’.’” He kept his eyes on the road.

“Why is my house on your screen?” Her dark blond brows pulled down. “And why are we leaving an hour and a half early for our meeting with Ginny?”

“I set up some security, Amanda. I was uneasy leaving your parents at home alone with your kids. This meeting with Virginia Sullivan just seems too damn convenient for me. Didn’t want to leave them open to anything.” When he stopped at a light, he glanced over at her. “And to answer your second question, I need to do some recon. Check out the perimeter. Before we get inside, that is.” Grimacing, he wondered why Ginny wanted to meet Amanda so late, but at least she had him as back-up.

“You must be worried about something, Ryder.”

“I do think it is curious that she called you, especially after what went down yesterday. Not to mention I do need to see where the alternate exit routes are, if we need them.” Ryder shook his head recalling the panic he felt yesterday after jogging up the few sets of stairs at the Institute of Physics to find her. When he cracked open the door and saw Amanda slide into the door across the hall, he held his breath because he knew something was up. He actually had one foot out the door to go get her, but three big men barreled into the hallway. After he silently ducked back into the stairwell, he watched them as they shouted and walked by slowly looking round. He knew they were looking for her. He remembered how his chest squeezed together, terrified for her safety. Grinding his molars into his jawbone as he waited until it was clear to go get her.

“Yes, I know. Ginny was pretty vague on the phone. She said she had something she needed to show me.” Amanda touched his leg. “Thank you for coming with me, Ryder.”

Sliding into the parking lot of the Institute of Physics ninety minutes ahead of Amanda’s scheduled meeting time gave him the chance to do some recon and study the layout of the building’s grounds and surrounding area. All looked quiet. It was late enough in the evening that most of the staff had gone home. Only a handful of cars were left parked in front of the glass building.

“Why are we so early?” Amanda asked when he drove slowly around the building.

“We need to know the exits, just in case something goes wrong, Amanda.”

Noting the number of windows and doors that he passed, Ryder mentally filed that information away for later use, if need be. He scoped the area eight times looking for anything that had changed. Ryder narrowed his eyes and searched the area to see if any menacing activity lurked about that could suggest a set-up and saw none. Parking in the back east side of the lot, Ryder waited for Ginny Sullivan to appear.

When the two spearing headlights of a sedan turned into the almost vacant parking lot at eight forty-five, he watched and waited.

“That’s Ginny, Ryder,” Amanda said quietly and sat up straighter in her seat.

“Okay.” His gaze again scoped out the dark lot. Breathing in deeply, he exhaled slowly all the while searching the area for anything out of place. “Let’s just wait a few minutes.” He really did want this to be a legitimate tip. His eyes swept back and forth through the parking lot several times before he reached out to blink his headlights twice. The dim halogen lights that stood tall and loomed over the Institute of Physics parking lot, showed the BMW to look silvery in color. It blinked its lights back at them two times, confirming that Dr. Harris’ colleague saw their car as well and the BMW crawled slowly over to them.

When Amanda readied to open her door, he threw his arm over to stop her. “Wait.”

“But Ginny―,” Amanda started to say and then nodded when she seemed to understand Ryder’s caution.

“Let her come closer and then I’ll get out. You stay put.”

She again nodded grimly and clutched her hands together restlessly on her lap.

He noted the driver’s side window was already down and a short-haired woman with glasses eased her BMW next to Ryder’s Jeep Cherokee from the opposite way, so they could both see each other.

Her eyebrows jumped as she noticed him before her gaze landed on Amanda. “Amanda, I thought I said only you―”

He interrupted her. “Where Amanda Harris goes, I go until we get this mess straightened out, ma’am.”

“I see.”

“The perimeter is clear; shall we get down to the meat?”

Amanda craned over so she could speak to Ginny. “Ginny, this is Ryder Stevenson. You can trust him with any information. He’ll keep anything confidential to himself. He’s helping me get to the root of this. . . ” She waved her hands up in the air in a helpless gesture. “Whatever this is.”

Ginny pointed an index finger to the side entrance of the Institute of Physics. “Let’s head over there. We’ll go in the side door.”

“We’re going inside?” Ryder quirked an eyebrow at the older woman because he wasn’t sure he liked that idea.

“Yes,” she hissed. “I need to show you some tapes . . . as well as some other things I’ve recently discovered.”

“Ryder,” Amanda urged him quietly. “Let’s go. I trust her.”

He dipped his chin to acknowledge them both. Hoping he wouldn’t regret this move of being in an unsecured building, he put the car in drive and followed her BMW as it crept to the side entrance.

Ryder waited until Virginia got out of her car and was at the metal side door before he and Amanda met her.

“Ginny.” Amanda reached over and gave the older woman a quick hug and then pulled back to introduce them. “This is Ryder Stevenson. And Ryder, this is Ginny Sullivan.”

Ryder shook hands with the woman. “Nice to meet you, ma’am.”

Ginny looked over at him briefly after she swiped her security card. “Likewise, Mr. Stevenson.”

The door latch clicked open and Ginny ushered them into the hallway. Over her shoulder she said, “Over here.” And they followed her into a small office to the right.