Ultimate Courage (True Heroes Book 2) (18 page)

“Everything.” Best way for him to gain her trust was to hide nothing. “We’ll tell you what we make of it all, too, but it’ll all be there for you to draw your own conclusions.”

A faint smile played on her lips. “I’d appreciate it.”

He tried smiling, too, and found he really wanted to be around her. “It’s been a hectic couple of days. Come have breakfast and maybe you can experience what passes for a routine Sunday around here.”

He straightened and held out a hand to help her up. She stared at it for a moment, then gave him her own and let him help her.

He chuckled. “And you can meet Sophie.”

E
lisa was still caught up in her memories as Alex led her back to the main building. But he kept her hand in his as they walked, grounding her even as he left her to her thoughts. The contact was comforting, and yet every few steps he brushed his thumb over her knuckles or gently tightened his grip, kicking her heart into brief sprints and triggering a fluttery nervousness in her belly.

This thing growing between them was radically different from her relationship with her ex. That had been gradual, progressing in stages the way she’d expected it to. She’d embraced the predictability, anticipating the next step without meaning to.

But this chemistry with Alex was the opposite of predictable—from the first time they’d kissed to every intimate moment they’d shared since. She was off balance and constantly surprised, guessing and definitely excited. It was…fun.

For the first time in forever, she was having fun and wondering what was going to happen next.

The project manager in her was horrified.

“Dad! Elisa! Hurry, breakfast is just about ready!” Boom stood in the doorway waving her broken arm. Once she saw them wave back, she turned in the doorway and knocked her cast against the doorjamb.

Elisa winced. “Ouch.”

Alex chuckled. “Actually, she needed fewer pain meds last night. She might’ve forgotten she was hurt until just then.”

“It’s amazing how fast kids bounce back from injuries.” She shook her head.

“Speaking of which, how’s your wrist?” Alex asked, looking down at her.

Elisa lifted her left wrist, opening and closing her hand. “Doing fine. I’ve been wearing the brace the last couple of nights. Helped a lot.”

“Doc at the ER said it was a bad sprain?”

The night they’d met in the emergency room seemed a long time past, but it really had been just a few days. Amazing how caught up in Alex’s world she was getting. Yet, now that she thought about it, there was a rightness to it she didn’t want to overthink.

She nodded. “Ice, ibuprofen, and stabilize it to let it heal. I just hate wearing the brace when I’m typing and I figured since today is a work day I’d end up leaving it off.”

“Doesn’t hurt to bring it along just in case.” Alex gave her hand a squeeze. Then he paused. “Feel free to grab a big freezer bag from the kitchen in the main house and ice from the freezer whenever. We use ice a lot around here.”

“Okay.” He’d brought her ice the first morning. Maybe she should figure out how to set a periodic alarm on the phone to remind her at regular intervals. The faster her wrist healed, the better. There was still plenty of organization she could do for the front office.

They arrived at the doorway, and he let her hand go, motioning for her to head inside. “I’ll let Souze into his kennel so he can have water and some time to himself.”

Boom rushed back to the doorway to meet her, grabbing her right hand. “C’mon, Elisa. I’ll introduce you.”

Elisa let herself be tugged inside and down the hallway into the kitchen area. David gave her a wave from his seat at the table and Brandon was manning the stove. Whatever he was frying smelled so good, her mouth immediately started watering.

Two women were arranging dishes on the breakfast counter. “Lyn! Sophie! This is Elisa!” They turned to her with smiles.

“Hi, there.” The very pretty blonde turned to her first, offering a hand.

Elisa reached out and shook it, smiling at the firm return grip. When she’d been in an office environment, a solid handshake had been an absolute must to show confidence. Once she’d stopped working and had started meeting more of her ex’s colleagues in social situations, the handshakes she’d received from other women had turned limp. Without substance.

It was nice to get a firm greeting again.

Boom continued her brand of introductions. “Lyn works with dogs all over the country, rehabilitating bad behavior. She travels a lot, so she wasn’t here the day you started, and she’s still getting over a bad cold, so don’t let her breathe on you.”

“Ah.” Elisa fished for something to say and came up with nothing.

Lyn laughed. “No worries. I washed my hands just before you came in, and I’m on antibiotics now so I’m not likely to be contagious. I hope. Other people might’ve balked at taking antibiotics so
they
aren’t allowed to breathe on Boom.”

Lyn sent a warm glance in David Cruz’s direction. He shrugged and winked. “I prefer not to encourage the breeding of uber viruses or bacteria.”

“Uncle David!” Boom flapped her un-casted hand. “Still doing introductions here.”

David held up a fork and waved it as if to say “continue.”

“I’m Sophie.” A dark-haired woman came around the breakfast bar to shake her hand, too. She had the sort of ever-young Asian features that made it hard to pin down her age, so she appeared to be anywhere between eighteen and thirtysomething. “I hear you’re wrestling the chaos at the front desk into much-needed order.”

Elisa blinked. “Well, I streamlined a few things and started up a client database so the forms could be just for newcomers.”

Sophie nodded once, definitively. “Much needed. I’ve been telling them they needed to get someone with a good head on her shoulders to help out for months. If you let these guys go, they’ll do nothing but work with the dogs and forget people even exist.”

“I can believe that, actually.” Elisa found herself smiling again. “It’s nice to meet you both. Do you all live here?”

Lyn grinned and jerked her head toward David. “The two of us are in the guest cabin right now, but we’ll be moving back into our cabin as soon as the expansion is done. I needed an office and a bigger bathroom.”

“With a tub,” Sophie sighed.

“A wonderful, deep soaking tub,” Lyn affirmed.

“Ooh.” Elisa sighed, too. How long had it been since she’d taken a real bath? The chance to soak and let all the stress go as the heat from the water seeped into her muscles would be so good.

Boom wrinkled her nose.

Elisa chuckled and looked at Sophie. “I actually have no idea where Brandon sleeps.”

Brandon banged a pan on the stove. David barked out a laugh and almost choked. Lyn slapped a hand over her mouth, and Boom outright laughed.

Sophie turned a bright red.

“Sophie is a good friend,” Alex said from behind Elisa.

As she turned to look up at him, he dropped a kiss on her temple in a seemingly absent-minded gesture and ruffled Boom’s hair.

It was Elisa’s turn to blush as Boom stared at her with a thoughtful expression.

“A friend who brings sweets and pastries to get us fat,” Alex continued as he nabbed something from a dish.

Sophie slapped at his hand. “Elisa hasn’t had a chance to get anything yet, and I use you guys as guinea pigs for my new recipes.”

Alex stuffed his prize into his mouth unrepentantly.

A flustered Sophie handed a plate to Elisa. “Come help yourself. There’s scrapple and hash browns. Brandon’s making eggs to order.”

Elisa paused. “I’m sorry if I—”

Sophie shook her head. “Oh, no. It’s no big deal. Honest mistake meeting us all in the kitchen like this. I’m just a friend from forever ago and come over all the time. Is scrapple okay or do you prefer bacon?”

Elisa studied the crisp fried slices of…something. “I’ve never had scrapple before. What is it?”

“Never ask what scrapple is.” Boom leaned toward her and whispered loudly, “None of us talk about what’s in scrapple.”

“It’s delicious,” Alex said as he took up a plate of his own. “It’s pork-based. And that probably
is
all you want to know about it.”

Elisa smiled and took a slice. “I guess I can try something without knowing everything about it.”

In short order, she was seated at the table with a plate of scrapple, eggs over easy, and hash browns, pondering whether she could eat her sweets first. There were sweet rolls baked a perfect light gold with some sort of gorgeous red berry filling and topped with rich vanilla icing. “Whatever these are, Sophie, they look amazing.”

Sophie smiled. “Vanilla glazed strawberry rolls. Strawberries aren’t in season locally right now. We’re a couple of months late for that, but you can generally still find enough for this recipe at a decent price at most grocery stores. It’s a Boom favorite, so I figured I’d bake a batch.”

Elisa smiled.

“They’re
so
good.” Boom was happily gobbling up everything on her plate with the abandon of a young girl with a high metabolism and no worries about the need to do cardio later.

“They’re sweet.” Alex agreed. “And you like just about anything sweet.”

“Mmm. I like other stuff.” Boom sucked on the tips of each finger with exaggerated care. Then she looked directly at Elisa. “Pachamanca is super good for dinner when we go to Dad’s favorite restaurant. I’m going to try it the way Dad had it as a kid when we go visit my
abuelo
in Peru someday. Papa rellena, too. They’re these balls of mashed potatoes stuffed with super delicious meat filling. So good! And then I get dessert. Dad tries to make sure my sweet stuff is mostly fruit. He says sugar and candy should be treats and are even better when I don’t have them all the time. He’s kind of right, but some days I want sugar so much I’d take
baths
in sugar if I could.”

Chuckles all around the table.

“Well, you could.” Elisa ventured as she took a bite of her own strawberry roll. She lost her train of thought for a minute as the strawberry sweetness mingled with vanilla spread over her tongue and combined with the wonderfully soft texture of the roll.
So. Good
. When she came back to her senses Boom, Alex, David, and Brandon were staring at her. “Oh. Well, taking a bath with sugar. You could make homemade sugar scrubs. You don’t eat them, but they can be really good for your skin.”

“True,” Sophie chimed in. “I never thought about it before, but Boom had dry skin so bad last winter she was itching a lot. A sugar scrub could help with that, and it’s totally natural. It’s also a great natural way to get the grime out of your hands instead of those nasty industrial soaps you guys use. They used to have a shop in New Hope that made all their scrubs and soaps themselves. They ended up moving to the West Coast and shutting down the store.”

“That’s too bad.” Elisa pondered the details of a business making scrubs and soaps. Her brain automatically started going through the probable logistics, and she noted additional topics for research. It was a fun mental exercise. “I used to make my own scrubs back in college. And soaps in small batches. It’s a calming hobby.”

“Could you show me how?” Boom leaned forward over her plate eagerly, icing-covered fingers forgotten.

Elisa laughed. “It’s been a long time, but I might remember some of the simpler recipes. If it’s okay with your dad, maybe we can make it a weekend thing.”

“Spa day at the kennels.” Lyn tapped the table. “I’ll join you ladies, if you don’t mind.”

“Sophie, you come, too!” Boom grinned at them. “It’ll be a girls’ day.”

Not a one of the guys said a word.

Elisa hoped it was all right. It was one thing to work for them on a day-to-day basis, but getting more involved with Boom might not be what Alex wanted. But when she looked over at him, he gave her a slow, warm smile and…ate another strawberry vanilla roll.

How that was a turn on, she had no idea. But it so was.

“The supplies expensive?” asked Brandon.

Elisa shook her head. “Sugar, olive oil or almond oil or grape seed oil, a couple of essential oils like lemon or peppermint. That’s about it. Could make bath salts the same way, with Epsom salt instead of sugar and a little bit of baking soda.”

Brandon tipped his head sideways. “Could make the place a little classier. Make enough to have at the washup stations we’ve got by the kennel and class areas and put it on the kennel’s accounts.”

Both Sophie and Elisa voiced caution.

“Hold up, that has to be justified as a business expense…”

“They’d have to be properly labeled in case people have allergies…”

Brandon held up his hands in surrender. “Whoa, it was just a thought. I figured if you ladies liked them, clients would, too. Most of them are of the feminine persuasion.”

“True.” Elisa chewed on her lip. She’d only ever made them for herself and her roommates, but it wouldn’t take much to research for use at the kennels. She’d really enjoyed making them before and hadn’t been allowed to continue when she’d moved in with her ex. “It wouldn’t take much to print proper labels, but you want labels so you’re protected from liability. I’ll look into it before we put those out.”

Sophie nodded. “I’ll check to be sure you can actually write those things off as expenses.” She paused then turned to Elisa. “I do their accounting for them, but I am useless at organization and business administration. There’s a lot more to it than most people realize. I’m so glad you’re here.”

Elisa smiled, a peculiar bubbly laughing feeling rising up from deep inside. “I’m glad I’m here, too.”

W
hy am I here again?” Elisa stood in the middle of the mats at Revolution MMA dressed in a Revolution tee and black yoga pants.

“Because I wouldn’t leave any person alone with this many kids.” Greg waved vaguely at the currently closed front doors to the school. “Alex is going to cover parents’ night for us, and you’re going to be his wingman. Person. Buddy.”

Elisa had a sneaking suspicion she was being set up. But then she didn’t mind, either. The week had gone by in a blur as she had started to fall into the rhythm of routine at Hope’s Crossing Kennels. Each day started early, with breakfast and private training appointments. There were open mornings some days to work on the various projects she was developing for the business, and then afternoons of public classes. She got to see Alex every day, but they had very little alone time. With Boom back in school, Alex was busier helping his daughter with homework and spending quality time with her. Oh, Elisa had been invited a few nights to play board games or watch movies, and those had been wonderful.

But she didn’t think any of that had prepared her for a night with Alex overseeing the well-being of other people’s children. Gary and Greg obviously thought she was ready.

“A couple of things to keep in mind. The kids arrive in their Revolution uniforms to keep things nice and neutral. Different families have varying resources and the uniforms mean no kid has to miss out on parents’ night because their clothes might be different from the other kids’,” Greg said as he walked to the middle of the mat. “During class or parents’ night, the kids’ belts always come untied. Our instructors always have the child face them at an angle where their parents can see everything, and they retie the belt for them at arm’s length with very clear motions. If a kid’s
gi
has come loose, the instructor sends them back to their parents to get them straightened out. Those ties are too far inside the
gi
, and not every kid wears a shirt inside.”

“The instructors? Not you and Gary?” She shut her mouth quickly and immediately wished she’d filtered those questions before letting them out.

A sad look passed through his gaze and the corners of his mouth turned down for a split second, then it passed. “Working with kids is always a sensitive situation. We’re very careful not to make a move toward any child in any way that can be misconstrued. Gary and I generally have the instructors or the parents handle those things, just to be sure everyone is comfortable. On parents’ night, the parents will only be around for the first half hour as they drop off the kids. They have to be back by nine thirty to pick their kids back up for the night.”

A solid chunk of time when parents could go out and have a date night or quiet time. Meanwhile, the kids burned off energy in supervised play. Or chaos. Perspective could be everything.

“You’re both really good teachers.” She’d watched Greg work with the kids when she’d first arrived and Gary the next morning with the adult beginners’ class. “More patient than I could imagine. I’m not sure I could be the same.”

“You’ll do great. Boom told us all about your game nights. And we love what we do.” Greg perked up again. “Kids are starting to arrive, so why don’t you grab a seat on the long benches over there? We’ll introduce you in about twenty minutes or so.”

Elisa took a seat as instructed and settled in to people watch.

The parents of Revolution MMA didn’t even blink at a newcomer. They filed in with one or two or even three kids. The kids immediately ditched their shoes at the edges of the mats and ran out into the middle to start chatting. The adults weren’t all couples, though. There were a good number of women gathering to sit on the benches. From their chatter and outfits, they were planning a ladies’ night out.

Elisa wondered if Sophie and Lyn might be interested in one sometime soon. She hadn’t really gone into Philly yet and it was so close by.

“Alex Rojas is watching the kids tonight.” The feminine speaker was answered by a few gasps and a bunch of giggles.

Elisa kept her eyes on the kids but listened harder.

“He hasn’t been coming in to work out as much on the weekdays.” Another woman made the observation with a distinct sound of disappointment.

“His daughter has been out for the last week,” the initial speaker informed them. “Broke her arm. It’ll be weeks before she can come back to classes.”

A round of sympathetic sentiments.

“Is there anything sexier than a single father as attentive as he is?” That question got a round of sighs.

Elisa sighed, too.

“Is there any guy here sexier than Alex Rojas?” One woman let out a wicked laugh. There were a couple of names mentioned, but for the most part, it seemed Alex was very popular.

Elisa squirmed in her seat, but couldn’t tear herself away. She wanted to know what else they said.

Another woman sighed. “He has a knack for seeing everything going on in a room and yet not noticing any personal hints at all. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve tried to give him my phone number.”

“Maybe you should give him your underwear.” The suggestion was met by a gasp and several other laughs. “It worked for you at the club last month with the really hot bouncer.”

“Look, every once in a while, a woman has got to get rid of some tension.” Agreement there.

“I wonder how he is in bed.”

Another woman snickered. “Forget a bed; how about up against a wall? All those muscles rippling and those biceps holding you up? Oh my god.”

“In the shower…” More speculation.

“I bet his O-face is amazing.” Squeals of laughter came in response to that one.

“Forget his; how many
O
s do you think he could get out of me?”

Gasps. Elisa’s face started to heat up. They were going to notice her soon and wonder why she was eavesdropping. She should really get up and…

“Hey.” Alex walked out of the changing room and headed straight for her.

The women on the benches let out a chorus of sweet greetings. Totally innocent, every one of them.

He gave them each a nod, a slightly awkward smile, then his gaze fastened on her. “Ready to go spend the night with me?”

Elisa let her mouth drop open, caught without a comeback. At least half a dozen stares sliced into her side as every woman turned to get a good look at her.

Alex’s smile broadened into a wicked grin. “Parents’ Night is started. You ladies have fun. My partner and I will watch over the kids.”

Rojas stood with his arms crossed, struggling to maintain a properly mock-fierce visage as the kids battled.

Elisa had been “paralyzed” about a dozen times in Nerf scrimmage. She was currently lying slumped to her side on the mats feigning paralysis while two kids used her body as cover. One of those children was his daughter. Extremely practical child, his Boom.

The opposing team was on their last man. It looked like Boom’s team was going to win. It’d bugged him, the first time he’d overseen parents’ night. He’d thought this game was a bad idea. Emphasis on bad.

But Elisa had joined in the fun and the kids loved her. She’d laughed and gone down with all the drama of a Broadway actor. The kids ate it up. Plus Souze sat at his side, calmly watching over the chaos with him. It made the cacophony easier to handle somehow, having Souze with him, almost helping to keep an eye on things.

The kids took the competition and kept it friendly and fun. None of them claimed to be killing the other. The children’s rules were to be tagged meant you were paralyzed, frozen until the end of the round.

He could live with those rules.

Movement in the lighted area outside the front doors of the school caught his eye, confirmed as more than simple passersby when Souze came to all four feet and issued a warning bark.

Hard not to notice every person walking past with the huge floor-to-ceiling windows facing out onto the parking lot. He’d drawn the blinds across most of the front of the school, leaving the door exposed so he could see the parents returning. Night had fallen, and it was a few minutes early, but, hey, some parents ran out of energy faster than the kids did. But these two people didn’t move on after a quick glance in the doors. They remained waiting.

He didn’t recognize the two men standing outside the door. Scowling, Rojas studied them as they peered through the glass. When one of them looked directly at him and pressed a badge to the glass, Rojas nodded and held up an index finger to indicate they wait.

“All right, recruits.” He pitched his voice to carry over the delighted shouts and squeals. Over a dozen pairs of eyes locked on him and the room fell silent. “We’re doing a new thing tonight. We’re going to send everyone into the big changing room and see who can stay silent the longest. Whoever the winner is gets first chance to choose their team next parents’ night.”

One of the young boys pumped his arm. “Nice. I’ll win!”

A chorus of challenges came from the various children.

“None of you can win if you don’t pile into the changing room and go quiet. I can hear everything from that room so you have to be absolutely silent.” Rojas tapped his ear. “Consider this an exercise in discipline. Move out.”

Elisa herded some of the less focused kids to the changing room in the back, her gaze going from Rojas to the men at the door.

He waited until their eyes met. “Text Gary and Greg. Our visitors flashed a badge, but I don’t recognize them as any of our local police.”

And he’d had reason to get to know some of them over the last several months. A few trained with Revolution MMA and at least one of their local police had his kid here tonight. But the staff at Hope’s Crossing Kennels had interacted with the local police a few times when Lyn had first come to the kennels. It’d been interesting times and he’d gotten to know quite a few of the police in the area as a result.

Once Elisa had nodded and gone with the children safely out of view, Rojas headed to the door and snagged a
kali
stick out of the bin at the corner of the mats to bring along. Souze kept pace with him, leash dragging along the floor. Rojas wanted at least one hand free to act, and he trusted Souze to obey verbal commands.

Smiles and geniality weren’t his thing, but he tried for as neutral an expression as possible as he unlocked one side of the double doors and cracked it enough to speak to the visitors. He kept his hand on the door bar, effectively blocking entrance across the opening. He carried the
kali
stick in his other hand, loose and relaxed at his side, away from the opening. Souze stood at heel at his left side, an added obstacle in the partial entryway.

“Officers.” He nodded at each. They were both average height, not quite as fit as the police who trained at Revolution, and average build. Fairly non-descript. Their police uniforms had no name tags. “How can I help you this evening?”

There was a beat of hesitation as the other two men assessed the situation. They each returned his nod, glanced down at Souze for a long moment, then took a closer look at him. Hey, a handsome black and tan GSD standing ready to act had that sort of effect on a person. People had a range of reactions. Some were delighted. Others were intimidated and kept their distance.

People who planned to do shady things got fidgety and wary of the dog. These men both changed their weight from one foot to the other before steadying themselves. They also each had their hands on their guns.

Rojas’s attention focused and he kept his limbs loose, his joints relaxed to maximize his range of motion if he needed to counter an aggressive move on their part.

“Are you the owner of this school?” the one who’d flashed the badge asked as he leaned in and placed his own hand on the edge of the door at about eye level. Not tugging it open, but definitely making sure to get a modicum of control on the door. He tapped his chest. “I’m Officer Wegner and this is Patterson. We’re looking for an Elisa Hall. She’s needed for questioning back at our division headquarters.”

Rojas tightened his jaw a fraction. The guy’s demeanor was meant to intimidate and it was scraping at Rojas’s temper. The issue here wasn’t whether or not the man made a move. Rojas was more concerned about the children in the other room and not giving these two creeps an excuse to remove Rojas from the premises.

Wegner leaned in a fraction more. “Do I need to repeat myself?”

Well. They were all in relatively defensive positions in the entryway. Hopefully things could be resolved with conversation, but they were all prepared to take action. This was a clear threat and Rojas settled into a cold analysis of the situation.

Souze was completely silent.

Which was a sign in and of itself. In relaxed situations, Souze gave the brief bark or warning growl. This was a serious encounter, and the dog had gone completely quiet. It was a personality quirk and a dangerous one. Souze was watching these men with potentially deadly intent.

“I’m actually not the owner.” Rojas opted to answer the first question as pleasantly as possible. His dog was taking cues from his attitude, his voice, his body language. As long as he was in control, he was in control of Souze. Having the backup also reminded him to keep his reaction in check. This wasn’t overseas or a combat situation. Response with deadly force would not be called for. Especially not with children nearby. He needed to restrict himself to the minimum force required to maintain control of the situation and that was it. “But they should be back in less than half an hour. We’ve got a special children’s event going on here at the school this evening. We’d like to keep the kids feeling as positive as possible. The presence of anyone they don’t know can be stressful.”

There, he’d been completely reasonable. The next couple of minutes were going to be telling. Could be easily diffused or things could get ugly, fast.

Wegner bared his teeth in a smile, not a friendly one. “No problem. Send Miss Hall out here and she can come with us directly back to division headquarters.”

Rojas allowed his features to twist into a grimace of disappointment. “We’d like to cooperate, officer, but there’s reason to believe Elisa Hall is being pursued by a stalker. I’d rather not have her out anywhere without someone she knows. If you’d be willing to wait until after this event is over and all the parents have come to take their children home, I’d be happy to accompany you all back to your division headquarters. Where is that, by the way?”