Nightfall (3 page)

“You think he’s stalking her?” Mark asked, bristling like a porcupine.

Alexander sighed. “I don’t know enough about the situation to be certain. But I’m going to find out. So if you guys will support me in helping her, I’d appreciate it.”

Ian nodded enthusiastically. “Of course, General. Hell, you understood when we wanted our women to move in here. There’s still a lot of wankers out there intent on doing harm. Maybe the disaster caused her ex-husband to go mental.”

His woman.
Yeah, if he was one hundred percent honest with himself that’s how he felt about Patty. Like it or not, she’d grabbed him by the gonads, and he couldn’t shake it. Had he ever
tried
to shake it? No. Slowly but surely the friendship he’d developed with her had changed into something deeper for him. Problem is, he didn’t know if she felt that way. Maybe she’d tell him to take a flying leap. If she did he’d respect her wishes, of course.

Mark chimed in with, “I can’t see the ladies having a problem with Patty coming here.”

“I don’t see an issue either, especially if you think she’s under threat. Of course we’d help her,” Adam said.

“Thank you,” Alexander said, relieved he wouldn’t get any pushback.

Satisfied with their answers, he moved to the next thing on the agenda.

* * * *

Patty’s phone rang just as she sipped her second cup of coffee. She grabbed her cell and saw Alexander’s name flash on the screen. Undeniable happiness lit up inside her.

“Morning, Alexander,” she said when she answered.

“Hey.” His voice was casual. “Everything okay there?”

“Absolutely. If it wasn’t you’d be the first to know.”
Oh, hell. Did I say that out loud?

“Looks like the weather is kicking our ass.”

“How much snow do you have on your side of town?” she asked.

“Give or take a foot. At least it’s stopped snowing.”

“Same here. But I’m from Maine. I’m used to this weather.”

“I’m from Boston originally, but twenty degrees in Maine is friggin’ cold,” he said.

“Ah, I thought your voice had a little ring of Boston in it.” She exaggerated a Boston accent. “You know, pahking the cah.”

He laughed. “Come on now. My accent isn’t that thick. I’ve lived too many places.”

She laughed, wishing he was sitting with her on the couch enjoying coffee and cuddling.
Cuddling?
Oh, Patty.
Didn’t seem likely that Alexander would have a cuddly bone in his body.

She shifted on the couch to look out the window. She placed her mug on the coffee table in front of her. “I’m not opening the bakery today.”

“Good. I have some work to do around town, but I’d like to stop by your place after I’ve finished business if that’s all right with you.”

Wow. Inviting himself over, eh? “Okay. I can fix us lunch.”

“Sounds great. Say about twelve thirty?”

“That will work. See you soon. Take care driving in the snow.”

“Will do,” he said.

After they hung up, Patty looked down at her shabby red flannel shirt, a size too big, and the baggy sweat pants. She quickly headed into her bedroom and changed into flannel lined jeans and boots. When she realized what she was doing, she scoffed and left on her baggy flannel shirt. It was warm and she’d always been more practical than apt to dress up for guests. Although she wasn’t one for makeup, she did wear it on special occasions. She went into the bathroom and stared into the mirror. She glared at her skeptical expression. Was this a special occasion? Even a date?

Probably not.

Sure, she had some lines around her brown eyes, as well as a line or two near her mouth that no amount of moisturizing erased. At forty-five she’d abandoned the idea she needed wrinkle cream. And those gray hairs, few as she had, would just have to keep comin’. She didn’t plan to dye her hair. Besides, going natural was popular these days. After the apocalyptic wrath of the volcano, a lot of life had boiled down to essentials, with fewer women concerned about glamming it up. Not that she ever had; it wasn’t a part of her personality.

Despite that, she grabbed her mineral makeup from the cabinet below the sink and started to work with a kabuki brush and other makeup tools. When she finished she had a light application of shadow, mascara, foundation and blush. Barely enough to make a dent, but it appeased her feminine side. She left her thick hair flowing around her shoulders. There. Alexander Graham could take it or leave it.
Okay Patty. You wouldn’t have put that makeup on for anyone else. Fess up.

She forced herself to continue what she’d normally do on a Saturday. Laundry. A load of towels spun in the dryer when she heard a car. She glanced out the side window and saw Alexander’s SUV pull up right at twelve thirty. Excitement purred under her skin and all through her body. She wondered if her hormones were firing, because she hadn’t reacted to any man like this in ages. Well, okay, she had reacted this way to Alexander since she’d met him, right from the first day. She’d always attributed it to an animal attraction. Still, it didn’t fade, growing hotter every time she saw him.

She smiled to herself. “Hormones. That’s all it is.”

Caution brought her up short. Despite being acquainted with Alexander a year, she didn’t know him that well.

She opened the front door. “Come on in. There’s coffee and I have some homemade soup ready to heat.”

“God, that sounds like heaven.” He stamped his boots on the porch, knocking off most of the white stuff.

After she let him in and closed and locked the door, she took his coat.

“Sorry. I should have come through your garage,” he said.

“No problem. Take off your boots here. The mat will take care of them.”

He removed his boots and left them on the mat. Now he stood in her small foyer, glancing around and looking dangerous as hell even in stocking feet. Today he wore a thick red sweater over a black turtleneck.

“I’ll put your stuff in the closet. Kitchen is right through there. We can eat in the breakfast nook.”

He turned and headed to the kitchen, and her gaze snagged on the way his jeans molded his tight butt. She swallowed hard.
Oh, yeah.
She had it bad. Problem was, she didn’t know what to do with this persistent fantasy. She used the few moments putting his coat and gloves into the closet to compose herself. When she entered the kitchen he stood by the counter looking a bit uncertain.

“Coffee?” she asked. “I’ll put the soup on. It’s a great recipe. Do you like leek and potato?”

His nose wrinkled the slightest bit. “I’ve never tried it. And yeah, I’d love coffee. Black, please.”

“Today’s your day.” She poured a refill into her mug and then filled a mug for him. “You’re going to love my soup.”

“I’m sure if you make it I will.” A warm smile broke over his face.

There
it was. His flattering statement, combined with a landscape-altering grin, made her stomach tingle with appreciation for his masculinity. Now she knew—his face
did
transform into positively gorgeous when he cranked out a smile like that. Her breath snagged. She covered it by clearing her throat. When she gave him the coffee he sat at one barstool and held the mug between both palms.

She busied herself at the stove heating the soup. “So how did your day go?”

“Crazy. It was fun sliding across town and getting to appointments on time. People are driving way too fast for the conditions.”

“Sounds par for the course.”

He laughed. “Yeah.”

He filled her in on a couple of meetings he’d attended with potential clients and their conversation dried up a moment later. He stared into the distance while she stirred the soup. When the soup was ready they took their large bowls to the breakfast nook. Sitting in the cozy, octagon-shaped nook with large windows gave her a sense of comfort. Having this man with her completed the picture.

“This soup is fantastic,” he said after trying one spoonful. He ate a piece of bread she’d made in the bakery. “And so is this bread. A little piece of heaven.”

“Thank you. Flattery will get you another package of donuts.”

He patted his stomach. “Better not. If I keep eating this well, I’ll get fat.”

She snorted softly as she eyeballed his excellent physique. Her imagination went right for the gutter as she wondered what he’d look like without all those winter clothes.

“I doubt that.” She blew lightly on a spoonful of soup. “You must work out.”

“I do. Every day in the gym we have at the compound.”

“Well, you’re way ahead of me. I’ve been doing some stretching and for a while there I was using my treadmill every day, but I’m out of the habit. I need to get back on it.”

His gaze skated over her. “You look fine to me.”

She smiled. “If you like lumberjacks.”

His eyes narrowed. “Patty, you always look wonderful. If anyone tells you any differently, they need a kick in the ass.”

His compliment threw her. Men never complimented her, and Dominic had ceased flattering her in their early days of marriage. “I’ve got ten pounds I want to lose. You’d think an apocalypse would have worn it off. Those first few months after the eruption were a beast.”

“Ten pounds?” His face showed nothing less than pure disbelief. “Where?”

Her face heated. “Well…I’d shave it off my rear and my thighs.”

He grunted and shook his head. “Women. There’s not a damned thing wrong with your rear and thighs.”

She lifted one eyebrow. “Oh? You’ve been looking at my butt and thighs?”

To her surprise the top of his cheeks actually went pink. “Hell yeah.”

Warm and husky, his voice sent tremors over her skin. She licked her lips and saw his gaze follow the movement. What was going on in his mind? She wanted to know with everything inside her.

Instead she said, “I need to get back in shape.”

“Okay then, I’ll make you a deal. Like I said, I’ve got great workout equipment at Sentry Security. You’re welcome to use it any time. Just call ahead so I can let you in.”

“Really? You’d let me use your gym?”

“One hundred percent.” His gaze turned warmer again. “And you’re beautiful, Patty. You don’t need to change a damned thing.”

Her mouth flopped open, his straightforward compliment was as cut and dried as if he talked about a military operation. “Thanks. You’re an ego boost.”

“I just call it as I see it.”

She tilted her head to one side. “I used to hate that saying.”

“You don’t anymore?”

“I’m not a fan of brutal honesty. I had enough of that with Dominic.”

He gave her a rueful grin. “I used to be like that…but I try to be…”

He shrugged, and the awkward, almost embarrassed expression on his face blew her away.

“You try to be what?” she asked.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Patty.”

“I know. But now you’re eating my soup, and you’ve gotta pay.”

He laughed, and she laughed with him.

“That’s another thing I like about you, Patty. You’ve got this wacky sense of humor that leaks out when I don’t expect it.”

“Well, don’t get to used to it. It only happens on accident.”

He choked on another gulp of coffee, his eyes sparkling with good humor. He sputtered. “I like it.”

“Okay, fess up. You said there’s a lot I don’t know about you. Is it secret squirrel army stuff?”

“No, my personal life. Let’s just say I’ve learned a hell of a lot in the last few years about
not
being an asshole.”

Shocked, she stared at him for an uncomfortable moment. “You’ve been nothing but kind to me. I can’t imagine you being an ass.”

“You didn’t know me back then.” He sipped his coffee and caught her gaze. “I didn’t treat my wife or my daughter like I should have.”

Caution made her sit back in her chair. “Oh?”

“Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t physically or emotionally abuse them. I took them for granted.” He dabbed his mouth with a paper napkin. “What else do you want to know?”

“Tell me something else I don’t know. Like your career in the army, your life in general…” She grinned. “General.”

He returned her grin, and she enjoyed that he’d smiled more at her in the last twenty-four hours than in all the months she’d known him.

He sobered and put his spoon down. He’d eaten the entire bowl like it was his last meal. “My career was good. And bad. I’m a torn man.”

“You didn’t like being in the army?”

He sniffed. “Oh, I loved being in the army. I joined when I was young and had a wife and baby.”

Her gaze jumped to his ring finger on his left hand. He didn’t wear a ring. He saw where she looked and held up his hand. “I’m a widower. She died years ago, way before the volcano went off.”

“I’m so sorry.”

He nodded, his eyes now somber with regret.

His hands went up for a moment in a gesture of surrender. “In my military career I was away from home a lot.” He shook his head. “I’m getting ahead of myself. I met Marge when we were both eighteen and we married right out of high school. Against our parent’s wishes.”

“Wow, young love.”

“Yep. Over the years Marge was a faithful wife and a great mother to our daughter Penny. I thought I loved Marge, but I think we grew apart fast once Penny was born. We were too immature to understand what was happening to us.”

“I can imagine.”

“I never should have had a child.” His voice went low and soft as he stared at the table. “It’s not that I don’t love Penny. I do. I just…it took me a long time to know how to express it. I’m afraid her mother’s love wasn’t enough.”

Ah, so that explained a lot.
“I see. The buttoned-up military man. The by-the-book way you do things isn’t only your military training, but it was there from the start.”

He looked up, maybe a little surprise in his gaze. “Yeah. That says it all. After I went into college, the ROTC and upward through the military ranks there was more demands on my time. Marge and Penny didn’t want me to keep up the relentless pace, but I did it anyway. When Penny started rebelling a bit as a teen, Marge took the brunt of it.”

He paused and pushed away his empty bowl of soup and coffee mug. He crossed his arms and his face shut down.