Page 39 of Won't Back Down
As she disappeared upstairs, I made quick work of the dishes, then strolled on out to the garage. The panels were, as she’d said, neatly organized and ready to go. I found the generator and started a mental list of tasks to prep the property in advance of the storm. The ringing of my phone interrupted me. Spotting Dax Gregory on the display, I answered. “Malone.”
“My man. How the hell are you? How’s the shoulder?”
“It’s better. Still a little twingey but getting there. You?”
“Busy. Sorry it took me a few days to get back to you.”
“Not a problem.” Honestly, this was a faster turnaround than I’d expected.
“Where are you? What have you been doing since you got out?”
“Well, it’s funny you should ask that. I’m back on Hatterwick. And… I just got married.”
“Holy shit. For real?” His voice shot up at least an octave.
“Yeah.”
“When?”
“Uh, about six days ago.”
“Hot damn. Who’s the lucky lady?”
I paused. No way around this part. “Willa.”
“Like… Hollingsworth’s little sister?” Dax was quick. It was part of what made him good at his job.
“Yep.”
He crowed. “Ooo hoo! And what did Jace say about all this?”
“He doesn’t know. The situation is complicated, and that’s actually why I wanted to talk to you.”
I gave him the rundown, pacing up and down the driveway. “I need you to help create a backdated trail of communications that suggests we were involved over the last three years.”
“Sure, I can do that. It’ll take me a little time. I’ve got several things going on.” He hadn’t specified, but I suspected some of those things involved off-book, black-ops contract work. Dax hadn’t sat on his laurels when he got out of the Navy.
“I appreciate whatever you can pull off. What do you need from us?” As he spoke, I switched over to speakerphone and opened the notes app to jot it all down. “Got it.”
“So, you’re doing this as a favor to protect her. That I get. Makes sense.” This time it was he who paused. “Is she aware of how you feel?”
I regretted some of my honesty during that forty-two hours we’d been trapped behind enemy lines. But, well, when you thought you might die, you shared shit.
Automatically, I glanced toward the house, making sure Willa wasn’t within earshot. “It hasn’t come up, precisely.”
“Is this gonna be temporary, or are you going to take the opportunity to woo her for real?”
“Who the hell uses the word ‘woo’?” But I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about last night in the kitchen. I’d nearly kissed her again. No audience. No performance. Just because I’d wanted to. I regretted that I hadn’t. She’d tattooed something of me on her body. That alone told me this was more than simple attraction on both sides, and I wasn’t entirely sure what to do about it. If I should do anything about it.
“That’s the word, brother. So are you?”
“It’s complicated. So that’s to be determined.”
“Well, good luck. I’ll send you a link for an encrypted upload of the stuff I asked for.”
“Thanks, man. I really appreciate it.”
“Absolutely. I owe you, so I’ll make sure this does the trick. By the time I’m done, nobody but the two of you will know it’s not the God’s honest truth. I’ll be in touch. My congratulations to your bride.”