Seek and Destroy (33 page)

    As the man dropped to his knees, David grabbed him by the hair. Without warning, he moved out of his grasp and grabbed David by his right shoulder.

    He hollered out in pain. Goddamn it. He almost dropped to his knees.

    The man's fist came from nowhere. He slammed it into David's temple. Seeing stars, and only stars, he stumbled. The man kicked out his knee and David dropped. He rolled out of the way just as the man's huge fist came down. It slammed into the floor.

    Jumping back up, he tried to take out the man's knee. He missed in the darkness and fell flat on his ass. The man jumped on top of him and made contact with his lip. He felt his lip split and tasted blood.

    "You son-of-a-bitch! I'll kill you!" the man spat at David.

    "Oh no," Charis muttered. "Wait! Stop!"

    David bucked him off and kicked him in the ribs. He growled out a curse and rolled.

    "David!" she cried.

    "I got this," he told her, reassuring her. Because if he didn't, if this man killed him, God only knew what he'd do to her. "Come on, you bastard." David moved back and forth, hopping from foot to foot. Hell, yeah. He was ready for battle, had been craving it ever since leaving NASSD.

    "No! David!" She tried to protest. "Stop!"

    "Get out of here," he told her. If he just got her away from the house, then she wouldn't have to see how ugly two men fighting over a woman could get. "Now!"

    "David!"

    He launched at the man, pulling him into a chokehold. It may not be as lethal as Weber's but it would still render a man unconscious.

    Or not. The man twisted and had him in the same chokehold. David punched him in the gut over and over until the man let him go. With a head butt, he sent the man staggering back. Another left hook and he fell onto the bed.

    Charis screamed and leapt from the bed. Instead of her running into his arms, she jumped in between them. "Stop this! Both of you!"

    "Get out of the way, love," he ordered and doubled up his fist to knock the man back down. He stirred and sat up on the bed.

    "Jesus Christ, Charis. You
know
him?" the man demanded.

    "Of course I know him, you idiot!" Having already memorized every tone she'd ever conveyed, David knew the guy had just landed himself in serious trouble with her.

    "What kind of homecoming is this?" The man stood, stumbled, and then gained his footing.

    "This isn't
your
home!"

    The man turned to her, and then quickly spun away. "Holy shit. Put on some clothes. Tell your hero over there to do the same. I'll be in the kitchen getting a goddamn icepack."

    David froze. This guy, this
intruder
trying to kick his ass, knew Charis? And what right did he have helping himself to anything in her kitchen? Just who in the hell was he?

    The bottoms of his PJs hit him on the side of the head. He blinked and looked over at Charis. Even in the dark he recognized the glare she threw at him. "Congratulations. You just beat up my brother." With that, she threw on some sort of robe and stormed out of the room.

    Huh? He jumped into the bottoms and hurried out after her. How was this his fault? He was simply protecting his property. Strike that. What he thought needed protecting.

    He squinted against the light in the kitchen. There, sitting at the island with a scowl so deep it looked like it would permanently etch into his features, sat a very pissed off Chris McKoy.

    He looked up as David walked out of the hallway into the kitchen. Chris possessed the same intense blue eyes as his twin, though David only clearly saw one since his right eye had started to swell along with the side of his lip. Chris got off a few punches on him. He imagined what he must look like. He ran his tongue over his swollen lip, still tasting blood.

    "Here." Chris threw him a bag with some ice. He caught it and immediately brought it up to where his head hit the wall. The knot growing there rivaled Mt. Rainier.

    "What are you doing here, Chris?" Charis asked and handed him a wet washcloth. She then turned and walked over to David with another washcloth. With a quick adjustment to her glasses, she ordered, "Sit."

    "I don't need you-"

    "Sit," she ordered firmly, thinning her lips. It wasn't up for negotiation. He sat. She went about the task of cleaning him up. From the way she scraped the washcloth across the tender parts of his face, and the way he cringed and winced as she did it, she didn't have an ounce of sympathy for his injuries.

    Why the hell not? He was only trying to protect her.

    "I've never been so embarrassed," she muttered for his ears only, scraping at his flesh.

    "Easy," he urged, the pain sending surges through his system every time she touched a fresh mark. Damn, she was brutal.

    "Don't speak." She walked over and rinsed the washcloth, added more water, then came back and started in again. "You," she said to her brother. "Start talking."

    Chris winced as he watched her scrub at David's face. "Jeez, sis. Give the guy a break. He just got his ass kicked."

    "Hah!" David shot back. She pushed on a tender spot on his cheek, causing him to hiss in a breath. He looked at her. She glared back.

    Yep. Very pissed off.

    Damn if it didn't make his opinion for her jump up even higher. For whatever reason.

    "What right do you have showing up at my house at five in the morning?" She stopped scraping at his face, thank God, and started in on her brother after throwing the first rag in the sink. "Barging into my room like that?"

    "I heard... Uh..." Chris looked down and rubbed the back of his head. "Noises. I thought you might be in trouble."

    "What are you even doing here?"

    "I just got back from the op. I drove by and didn't see any lights on. Dad told me you were out of town so I figured I'd stop in and at least turn on your porch light. When I used the hide-a-key to open the front door, I heard... Well..."

    "Okay." She stopped him, the embarrassment hitting her so hard the crimson in her cheeks brought out a beautiful glow.

    His gaze lifted to David. "Now that I see what's going on, I'm glad I stopped by."

    Just what did the oldest male McKoy kid have against him? "You got a problem?"

    "Yeah. What were you doing on top of my sister?"

    

    

    Charis rubbed her temples. Even the two Tylenol she took didn't help with the throbbing headache she'd developed over the past half an hour. David and Chris kept flexing their testosterone, neither willing to admit defeat. Not that it mattered. She just wanted her brother to go home and for her to go to bed.

    Preferably with David by her side. Even though she should make him sleep on the couch. Or outside in the freezing cold.

    Chris still sat at the island in the kitchen, while David and she had moved to her cream-colored couch. She grabbed her favorite fluffy peach-colored pillow and laid it over her lap, tucked her feet under her to keep them warm. He had his hand on her leg, which she didn't know if she liked or not. The gesture gave her an extreme sense of security, of being protected. Yet, it also made her brain foggy from the way the heat from his touch seeped into her system, made her pulse jump sporadically. Even at five-thirty in the morning when she could barely keep her eyes open.

    "So this is official?" Chris growled into his cell. He shook his head, muttered a few incomprehensible words. She watched him from over her shoulder, resting her chin on the back of the couch. David didn't seem to care. His gaze had barely left her since they were so rudely interrupted. Actually,
he
hadn't left her side since Chris showed up.

    Again, she didn't know whether she liked the gesture or not. It made her feel warm, safe, confused.

    "Working? Not from what I could see," he stated, his voice growing more and more intense. "Yes, I do realize what time it is. No, I didn't call to rat them out." He growled and eyed David. "
No
, sir.
Yes
, I do like my job."

    "Who do you think he's talking to?" she asked David.

    "Weber," he almost chuckled as he spoke. "And from the look on your brother's face, Weber is not pleased to be woken up so early in the morning, let alone to have a new recruit call to rat out agents on an op. The man does not like to be questioned, and he certainly does not like to be woken up."

    Hmm. Must run through the blood of all NASSD agents. She raised her chin and plopped her arm under it to get a little more comfortable. She had a feeling they'd be at this for a while.

    His eyes danced as he watched Chris struggle to get back into the good graces of his boss. Damn him for enjoying this. She just wanted to go to bed, to get some sleep. They'd spent most of the night either making love or leading up to it. She craved slumber.

    Chris grunted a few more times into the phone before hanging it up and shoving it back into his shirt pocket. "I guess I have to apologize. Sorry,
sis
."

    "What about me?" David asked him.

    He didn't acknowledge David's question. Instead, he turned and looked at her. "The director wants a status by 0700 hours. I guess that's it, then." Chris stood and headed toward the front door. "You," he bit off and turned back, rested his blazing eyes on David. "Keep your
eye
on her."

    David gave him a curt nod. With that, Chris walked out, slamming the door behind him.

    Charis went back to rubbing her temples. She needed to have her brain at 100% if she planned on tracking Surreal down before he knew he had a tail. A headache did not help.

    "Let me do that," he hummed in her ear. He started to massage her upper neck and head. Oh mama. Her toes curled. Her nipples perked up.

    "Hmmm," she whimpered. Her headache started to subside, thank God. He knew exactly what she needed, and when. No wonder she was in love with him.

    The realization sucked her breath from her lungs. Holy cow. Holy
holy
shit
. New Charis said shit, didn't she? She loved him?

    She did. She loved him. More than life. She wanted him more than she wanted her next breath. Which said a lot since she couldn't breathe after her epiphany.

    "Are you alright?" he asked. "You jerked forward. Did I hurt you?"

    She finally pulled in a breath. He touched her cheek and the connection shot jolts of lightening through her system. Pushing up off the couch and out of his reach, she gave her best attempt at a smile. She faltered, but then found it and planted it firmly on her face.

    "I'm fine," she lied. She felt so far from being fine. She was in love. Love! And with a man she barely knew anything about.

    She still didn't know his middle name.

    "Maybe you should lie down," he offered. "We could go back to bed." He wiggled his brows at her.

    "I'm fine," she insisted, feeling a bit better. She knew how to mask her feelings. She'd been doing it for years. She'd simply keep her epiphany to herself until this feeling went away. If they had a future together, and she prayed to God they did, it would have to wait until after this op.

    She went to put on a pot of coffee. Not that the caffeine would help their already over stimulated nerves, but she needed to do something. If she didn't, she'd run into his arms and declare her undying love. And, in turn, push him so far away he run for the hills.

    "Good, I need coffee this morning." David stood and stretched as best he could with his shoulder. "After the night we had, I'll need to suck on the grounds to keep me awake. A few more nights on this op and neither of us will be able to walk."

    "That is unless we stop having sex," Charis countered.

    They both looked at each other and broke out in hysterics. She knew he wouldn't go for that, and neither would she.

    "You have three other brothers?"

    "Yes."

    He winced and ran his tongue across his swollen lip. "I hope I don't meet them all the same way."

    Her heart palpitated. He wanted to meet her brothers? She ignored the jump in her pulse, the thought of them having a Sunday dinner at her parent's house.

    
Earth to Charis.
David Snyder isn't your boyfriend
. Although she couldn't really define what they were, she at least knew he wasn't that.

    "Ready to work?" He spoke after the gurgling of the coffee pot silenced.

    She nodded and poured them both steaming mugs of coffee. Handing his to him, she walked down her short hall into her office and sat down in her high back leather roller chair in front of her multitude of monitors while David pulled a chair in from the dining room. He took a seat next to her, much too close for her comfort. Not that she didn't love having him near, but she couldn't even reach her keyboard with him so close.

    She held her coffee in both hands, loving the way it kept her hands nice and toasty. As she took a drink it steamed up her glasses, reminding her she needed to get a replacement pair of contacts.

    Peepers came in and meowed for attention. After eyeing the intruder, he hopped up onto his mistress's lap and rubbed against her. "Good morning to you, too."

    "Meow," he replied and started to purr loudly.

    She brought her cup to her lips with one hand while stroking Peeper's back with the other. He meowed again, drooled and shed all over her robe, then hopped down and left the room, completely ignoring David.

    "Thanks a lot, cat," she muttered and shook the hairs off her fingers. It didn't take her long to run a check on every site she'd planted her traces on, even with the limited access she had to her keyboard. Surreal hadn't hit any of them. Or, if he had, he'd done it so stealthily her algorithm didn't pick up on it.