Nobody's Lost (Rescue Me Saga #5) (5 page)

Ah. A Marine.
Regardless, Ryder needed to find out who this old boyfriend was and have him checked out.

Megan held up her hand. “Before you form a posse to search for my last boyfriend, he’s now happily married to one of my best friends, and they have three kids.”

A shadow of pain crossed her eyes. She wasn’t being completely honest with him. Perhaps she still had a thing for him.

*     *     *

Something I could never give him.

She stared at her empty snifter, but decided she’d had more than enough. Her lips began to tingle as numbness set in. She hadn’t slept in more than twenty-four hours, not that she hadn’t gone longer during her college days. Dealing with the break-in left her exhausted, more tired than she ever remembered being.

“I think I just want to sleep for a day or…three.”

“Do you think it’s a good idea for you to stay in Albuquerque with these perps on the loose? Come morning, maybe we can get you to a friend’s house or something.”

“Leave town? I can’t do that.”

“Why the hell not?”

“I don’t know anyone here but Patrick, and I
refuse
to give some petty thieves that much control over me. Besides, why prolong the inevitable? My first order of business is to buy a laptop that I can keep locked in the safe at night—or whenever I don’t have it with me.”

He ran a hand through his hair before he shot her a pleading look. “Megan, I’ve been charged by your brother—Adam—with making sure you stay safe. I can’t reassure him of that if you stay here where you’re an easy target if they
haven’t
already gotten what they wanted.”

He seemed more concerned with disappointing Adam than with pissing her off. If he thought her a less formidable foe, he needed to be enlightened.

“I’m sure whoever broke in has what they wanted—my computer was top of the line. You are under no obligation to stay, not even tonight.”

“I’m going to protect you until we know for sure you’re safe or your brother tells me to stand down.”

“That
could
take days.”

He sighed. “Don’t worry, Megan. I’ll keep you safe until Patrick returns.”

Safe? Up to a point, maybe. But this man did things to her no other had done in a very long time. Honestly, not even her old boyfriend had turned her body on the way this man did with a simple glance.

Damn it, she’d put her life on a course for success and wasn’t going to let her residual hormones mess that up.

Chapter Three

J
esus,
don’t let this be the third biggest mistake of my life. He’d fucked up so many times.

“I have a spare bedroom at my place in the Jemez Mountains.” Man, he’d kill to be back there right now. He could protect her more competently with fewer people around.

I can breathe there.

Megan shook her head, releasing her scent into the air—something spicy, classy, yet understated like the redhead standing next to him.

“Out of the question. I don’t even know you.”

“You’re part of my Marine family. I would never do anything to dishonor myself before Top or any member of his family.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Look, ma’am, no way am I going to let your brother down.”

She raised her eyebrow. Calling her ma’am, even though he probably had only eight or ten years on her, helped him remember she was off limits.

She retrieved her cell phone from her pants pocket. “I’m sure he’s still awake worrying. Let me call Adam and ask him to let you off the hook.”

He placed his hand over her fingers before she placed the call. “My mission is under way. He expects me to use my judgment and skills to see that you’re safe. At the moment, I’m not convinced you’re out of danger, no matter how you play it down to him on the phone. I won’t lie to Top.”
Not about this, anyway
.

Their gazes locked for a long moment before she set the phone on the counter. “You win. If Adam is anything like Patrick, he’s not going to back down.” She sighed. “But I’m not moving into your house, not even overnight. You can barricade the doors if you want, but I’m sleeping here. Alone.”

“I can stand guard outside if that makes you feel safer.”

She nibbled her lower lip, and he felt the first stirrings of a hard-on in longer than he could remember.

Fuck that shit
.

Top’s little sister. Hands off, grunt.

“I don’t want you sleeping outside. But I wouldn’t feel right giving you Patrick’s room. I can let you take the sofa, if you’d like.”

“I won’t be sleeping.”

“But you’ve probably been up all night, same as I have.”

“I’ve stayed awake longer than this while on guard duty. I’ll be fine.”

“Ryder, just how long does Adam expect you to shadow me?”

“Until the mission is completed and the objective achieved—or Patrick returns. I won’t sugarcoat the situation, and I won’t leave you in any kind of danger.”

“But I’m not in danger.”

“You sure?”

“I told you, I have no enemies.”

“Give me the access codes to the security system and go get some sleep.” She wrote them on a piece of paper that he pocketed in his jeans. “Call out if you need me. Rest assured no one will harm you on my watch, Megan.”

“Thanks. I do appreciate you coming on such short notice like this. I hope your wife and family don’t mind.”

He tensed, not wanting to reveal more about himself than she needed to know. “I live alone.”

“You wouldn’t have a little sister, would you, Ryder?”

“What?” Had his mind strayed from the conversation? Wouldn’t be the first time he’d tuned out a woman.

“Just wondering if you have a sister, because my brothers are just as protective as you are. Maybe it’s a Marine thing.”

He glanced down at the floor. “I have one older sister. She lives up in Santa Fe.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re going to stay, because I really didn’t want to go to a hotel.”

Ryder nodded. “I’m going to check the perimeter. Pleasant dreams, Megan.”

*     *     *

Megan watched him walk out of the room, his body ramrod straight. Did the man even know
how
to relax?

Well,
she
did. This night had been exhausting, and she wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and zone out for a few hours. She contemplated having another belt of cognac to help achieve that, but decided against it. First, she’d try lying down and closing her eyes. If that didn’t work, she’d resort to alcohol or sleep aids. She didn’t like taking drugs or anything that impaired her mind or judgment, not after having to rely on so many of them just to keep the pain at bay for so many years. Never again.

Before going to her room, she made up a bed for Ryder on the sofa. Surely he’d realize soon how ridiculous he was being about all-night guard duty and would at least take a nap.

Stretching out on her bed, she pulled the sheet and summer bedspread up to her neck and curled onto her side. Every time she closed her eyes, thoughts of her missing computer bombarded her. She couldn’t wait to get to the computer store.

Megan turned on her other side and reached for one of the paperbacks on the nightstand, flipping the light on before settling back on her pillows. Maybe if she read a few chapters, she’d become tired enough to sleep. She might even replace the mayhem in her life with that of the protagonist’s in this fascinating mystery novel by her favorite author.

Her mind strayed a few times to the erotica site she accessed from her iPad when she needed a little self-induced stress relief, but the last thing she needed was any more sexual stimulation tonight. That potent man patrolling Patrick’s condo right now exuded enough sexiness to keep her in fantasies the rest of her life.

An hour later, she realized the book had the opposite effect to making her sleepy. She’d replaced the male protagonist’s image in her mind with one of Ryder Wilson. No more sleepy than before, she picked up the latest issue of one of Patrick’s boring news magazines. When she heard a knock on her bedroom doorframe a few minutes later, she jumped.

“Megan?”

“Come in.”

The door opened. “Sorry, but I saw the light on and wanted to check to make sure you were okay.” He glanced at the magazine now lying on her chest. “Can’t sleep?”

She set it aside. “Not a wink. My mind won’t shut down.” She tented her knees, keeping the covers on. “Any sign of trouble out there?”

“All quiet. Can I get you anything?”

She shook her head. Seeing to her needs was above and beyond his mission.

Ryder’s gaze darted from her to the floor in front of him and back. Megan motioned toward the foot of the bed. “We might as well get to know each other a little better if we’re going to be under forced confinement for a while. Have a seat.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“What—the having a seat part or the getting to know each other better part?”

“Both, actually. I don’t think your brothers would like hearing about a major lapse in protocol on my part, like sitting on your bed while you’re in it.”

She grinned. “Ah, a cautious man. Well, brothers be damned, if you won’t sit here, we can go into the kitchen and brew some coffee or cocoa or something. Then you can tell me more about Adam.”

He furrowed his brow. “You really should try to get some sleep. You’ve been through a lot in the last few hours.”

“Short of taking a sleeping pill, I don’t think sleep is going to happen. The sun streaming through my windows shortly is going to make that even harder. Unless you put a blindfold on me.”

His brown eyes smoldered before he stared at the floor again. She’d embarrassed him. Well, from what she’d read and heard, people dabbling in kink was more common these days than anyone knew. The media was all over it. She’d been reading an article about it when Ryder knocked. Not that she’d tried it herself or had any desire to give up control at that level to a man. But having a man under
her
control might be fun to try.

Oh, she’d let him squirm long enough about the blindfold. “I meant blindfold me with my sleep mask. To block out the sun, of course.”

The relief in his gaze surprised her. Did he think she was flirting with him? She’d never bothered developing such wiles. What man would want damaged goods or a wife who could never…

Don’t go there, Megan.

“What was Adam like when you knew him in service?”

“He was a senior SNCO.” Marines had so much jargon and apparently her confusion showed. “Sorry, staff non-commissioned officer. We were both enlisted men. I was a corporal, several ranks below Top. We didn’t pal around or anything so there’s not much I could tell you, even
if
I wanted to.”

And clearly he didn’t. “So, then, what was he like as your master sergeant?”

He visibly relaxed and leaned against the doorjamb. “The best there is. He gave it to us straight and wouldn’t ask us to do anything he wouldn’t do himself or hadn’t already done many times before. He put his life on the line to get all of his Marines out of every engagement.”

“I know it killed him that he didn’t succeed.”

His eyelids narrowed. “Did he tell you about Kandahar or Fallujah?”

“No. At the wedding I overheard snippets of conversations throughout the house as I was taking photos. Fallujah was where one of his business partners—Damián Orlando—was injured.” Ryder nodded. “That’s all I know. A wedding isn’t the place to discuss the gory details of war, but given how many military personnel were present, there had to be some.”

The light in his eyes dimmed as though the windows to his soul had just been slammed shut. “The details of his combat history are something you need to discuss with him. He’ll decide how much he wants you to know.” He reached for the doorknob and began to pull it closed as well. “I’m going to take another look around.”

Ryder left before she could say another word. Great. Now she was even less sleepy, wondering what he wasn’t telling her. It must have been a nightmare in Fallujah. She knew even less about Kandahar.

Megan tossed the sheet and bedspread back and went into the bathroom. After a long, hot shower, she dressed and went in search of Ryder.