Hide & Seek Read online

  Hide & Seek

  Hide&Seek

  Hide & Seek

  by

  Valerie Mann

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  Hide & Seek

  COPYRIGHT Ó 2009 by Valerie Mann

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or The Wild Rose Press except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  Contact Information: [email protected]

  Cover Art by Angela Anderson

  The Wild Rose Press

  PO Box 708

  Adams Basin , NY 14410-0708

  Visit us at www.thewilderroses.com

  Publishing History

  First Scarlet Rose Edition, October 2009

  Published in the United States of America

  Dedication

  To all of the critique partners I’ve had,

  past and present, many thanks.

  Without you, I wouldn’t be here.

  And thank you to all of the firefighters and

  medical personnel who help to keep all of us

  safe and healthy on a daily basis.

  Hide & Seek

  I’m always late.

  The little black numbers on the dashboard clock glared at me, but I ignored them as I turned into the dirt lane leading to my sister’s huge home. Cars lined both sides of the drive and spilled in a haphazard jumble across the front yard. I pulled my convertible behind a huge silver SUV, grabbed the bag of rolls I’d snagged at the Latino panaderia near the hospital and jogged toward the back of the house.

  Rounding the corner, mariachi music, happy chatter from dozens of people, spicy food and tangy margaritas greeted me. My sister Jennifer makes any get-together seem effortless and obviously this party was no exception. Over the heads of the partygoers, I found my brother-in-law, Drake, tipping a Mexican beer and holding court over his mammoth summer kitchen. Spotting me out of the corner of his eye, he held out his arms and I caught a glimpse of his barbeque apron. Find ‘em Hot, Leave ‘em Wet blared in sizzling red letters.

  Words only a firefighter could wear.

  “You made it!” He kissed me square on the lips then wiggled his eyebrows. “So, does this mean we can start the party now?”

  I handed him the rolls and smirked, “Very funny, wise guy. But I am sorry I’m late.”

  “You’re never on time.” He accepted the inevitability of my lateness and dug around in a huge, galvanized tub near his feet. Pulling a beer from the ice, he popped the cap and handed it to me.

  The blissful first bite of the frosty beverage made me sigh. After a long shift at work, I needed a cold one. And I was starving. My mouth watered at the scent of marinated meat sizzling on the grill. Leaning in, I picked at a crisp morsel then yelped when tongs poked my hand.

  “Stand back, woman! Let the grill master do his job,” Drake ordered and pointed over his shoulder to distract me. “Go bug your sister.”

  I found Jen slicing oranges at the bar and tossing them in a pitcher of sangria while chatting with a friend. She looked adorable as usual, all California-girl blonde hair and flawless skin. We couldn’t be more different since I swim in our Irish ancestor’s darker gene pool. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t need to wear a paper bag over my head when I go out in public. With a mass of brown curls, moss green eyes and ivory skin, I’m totally happy with my appearance. Besides, I have two attributes my sister can’t claim—big boobs and killer legs, thanks to running non-stop at work and spending time on the Stairmaster on my days off. And I had no shame when it came to showing either asset off.

  I wandered over to Jen and nudged her with my hip. “Hey.”

  “Oh, good, you’re finally here,” she said by way of greeting. “Can you finish this while I bring out the paella?” Without waiting for an answer, she set the knife in my hand and headed for the house. As an afterthought, she twirled back around. “Oh, hell, I’m such a bad hostess! Kelly, this is Nick Barrantes. He’s the new guy in the fire department. Nick, my sister, Kelly Donovan.”

  Then she was gone, leaving me to make small talk with a stranger. I looked up. Way up. And all of a sudden, small talk with this particular stranger was no hardship whatsoever. Holy smokes, the guy could haul my body out of a burning building anytime. Nick Barrantes had to be the biggest, baddest firefighter I’d ever seen.

  Whoa.

  “Hey, Nick.” I set down the knife and stuck a hand out, which he immediately dwarfed in a gentle but no-nonsense grip. My eyes rose back up to meet his and my heart skipped a beat. Maybe two.

  I didn’t feel that romance novel “electric shock” when we touched, my knees didn’t go all jelly roll on me, nor did everything in the immediate vicinity black out until only he and I existed in the universe. But when our eyes met, I felt an instant connection to him and when his grasp tightened for a second, I knew he felt the bond, too. I stared in awe at his male beauty. Brush-cut black hair, golden skin and deep brown eyes rimmed with thick lashes—surely illegal in more than one state—stared back at me. Straight nose, square jaw and full lips, broad shoulders, thick muscles straining under a navy blue fire department T-shirt—I halted further downward assessment before I embarrassed myself.

  The man was smokin’ hot.

  We both took a step back and couldn’t tear our gazes from one another. He tilted his head slightly as though he couldn’t quite figure out what had just happened. And, oh happy day, when his eyes finally left mine, he didn’t make an effort to hide the fact he checked me out as well.

  A sexy dimple twitched near the corner of his mouth. A dimple. Damn, I was complete toast.

  “Nice to meet you,” he replied and naturally, his deep voice had a sensual, dreamy quality that conjured wicked, sexy images in my addled brain.

  When I remembered to breathe, I realized we were still holding hands. Flustered, I pulled mine back, picked up the knife again and began to saw through a helpless orange. He shifted closer and I watched with curious fascination as his large, tanned hand snagged a slice of fruit.

  “So, Kelly Donovan. What do you do?”

  The low timbre of his voice made my stomach curl with desire. I darted a quick glance at him and couldn’t help but stare as he bit into the orange. My nipples tightened and I shivered when his tongue darted out and licked a drop of shiny juice from full, red lips. I’d give my next paycheck to feel that tongue do the same to me.

  “I’m a, uh, trauma nurse in the ER at County General.” Great, now I sounded as incoherent as my thoughts.

  He reached for another slice but I refused to watch him eat it. Just because I performed CPR routinely at work didn’t mean I had the remotest desire to have it performed on me, and at a backyard barbeque no less. Better to hack at the orange and keep my heart beating in a normal sinus rhythm rather than risk watching his luscious lips wrap around another lucky piece of fruit.

  He grinned. Surely he couldn’t read my thoughts.

  Since it didn’t take a genius to figure out handling a sharp blade around the handsomest man in the known universe was a spectacularly bad idea, I set the knife down. He had the most kissable mouth and a sudden visual of pressing my lips to his made my pulse skitter even more erratically. Then another, more graphic vision of what his mouth could do to the rest of me caused goose bumps to erupt on my skin. Fortunately, Jen took that moment to interrupt my lustful musings before my overactive imagination gave me away.

  Nick and I glanced over to the wraparound por
ch as she clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention and waited for the chatting to die down. “Drake and I promised you some fun and games tonight. You’ll like this one.” She pointed at an object hanging from a tree on the side of the house.

  A piñata.

  Talk about a blast from the past. The last time I’d encountered one was at Bobby Ray Taylor’s twelfth birthday party. Mrs. Taylor had wrapped a black scarf around my eyes and guided me to the paper mâché donkey hanging from the huge oak tree in their back yard. Praying my aim was good, I’d swung the bat in a blind, sweeping arc toward where I thought the frilly paper animal hung. I missed it completely but connected with Bobby Ray’s face. I still see him around town, but he refuses to talk to me. Then again, his false teeth weren’t very attractive, so it’s no wonder.

  Jen approached me with a red bandana in hand and I groaned. She’d been at Bobby Ray’s party as well and knew the danger of putting large wooden sticks in my hands.

  “What, are you crazy?” I hissed in protest and cast a quick, embarrassed glance at Nick, who stood less than a foot away. With a silent, warning glare, she tied the cloth over my eyes, thrust a bat in my hand and spun me around with more force than was completely necessary.

  I knew the expectations of every single person at the party centered on me. Jennifer was the North Carolina governor’s personal assistant and while the governor hadn’t made it, I’d seen plenty of state and local officials milling around. The writing was on the wall—I was going to make an ass of myself in front of a lot of important people.

  “You can do it,” a deep voice growled close to my ear. I jumped and dropped the bat.

  Nick .

  I felt him bend down then he wrapped my fingers around it and nudged my batting arm slightly to the right. “Now break the bastard wide open.”

  With false confidence, I swung in the direction he’d pointed me toward and by some miracle, hit the paper donkey on the first try. Murdered the poor thing, in fact. Hearing the smack of bootie hit the ground, I yanked the blindfold off to gape in amazement. As usual, Jen had an eye for the little details that made her parties so successful. Gift cards, mini bottles of tequila, strands of tacky metallic beads and a flood of silver coins rained down from the gash in the paper animal’s side. And just like Bobby Ray’s party all those years ago, every single partygoer nearby descended on the booty like a swarm of locusts. Elbows jabbed me out of the way and I nearly fell backward before a strong arm gripped my waist and helped me stand upright. I tilted my head back to find Nick’s handsome face staring down at me.

  “Damn, Kelly, you’ve got one hell of a swing.”

  I would’ve loved to snuggle longer against his hard body but my stomach chose that moment to growl. Nick’s hot gaze drifted down my neck, lingered on my breasts then settled on my belly. His mouth quirked in amusement. “Hungry?”

  Why yes, I am. A generous serving of yummy fireman would be lovely.

  My mouth watered with all sorts of cravings as he took my elbow and guided me toward the patio.

  “Sit,” he commanded. “I’ll get you something to eat.”

  I settled down in an Adirondack chair and stared at his firm butt as he headed toward Drake’s heavenly chicken adobo. The spicy scent wafted toward me on the warm evening breeze. If my brother-in-law wasn’t already happily married to my sister, I’d drag his talented chef-butt home with me. The man definitely knew his way around a grill.

  Nick nipped a beer from the tub and took a long pull, his head tipped back and his eyes shut while he swallowed. I watched, fascinated, at the play of muscles in his neck as he took another sip and ran the cold bottle over his forehead to cool off. He caught my stare and flashed me another dimple then turned to fill my plate while chatting up Drake. Easily a head taller than Jen’s husband, he stood out for other reasons as well. Broad shoulders, lean hips and the T-shirt stretched tight across the well-defined muscles of his back made me cross my legs around a sudden surge of desire. My panties dampened and I knew my face flushed, yet I continued to stare. Huge biceps, so handy for rescuing kittens from trees or holding a gal safe in his arms, rippled every time he moved. And from this safe distance and with his attention directed elsewhere, I finally dared to sneak a peek south of the border. An inviting bulge pressed tight against the fly of his faded jeans. Another shudder of lust rippled through me. Oh, my.

  “Kelly?”

  The voice nearby tore me out of my naughty reverie and gave me a start. I looked up into a familiar but totally unexpected face. What the hell?

  It was my boss.

  “What are you doing here?” Dr. McAvoy asked with a frown.

  Funny, I had that very same question on the tip of my tongue. My brain scrambled for a reason he’d be at this particular party but I finally gave up and simply answered his question. “This is my sister’s house. Actually, I grew up here.”

  David McAvoy was very handsome in a Doctor McDreamy sort of way, as well as a phenomenal physician and diagnostician. In fact, I’ve never encountered better. I respected his mind, but his morals? Not so much. The man was a man-slut, his sexual conquests in the hospital legendary.

  “So, you’re Drake’s sister-in-law.” He’d obviously made the family connection. Pursing his lips, he rocked back on his heels and nodded as though contemplating one of life’s mysteries. What a pompous ass.

  As with most small towns and cities, firefighters often did double duty as emergency medical technicians. Evidently, Drake knew McAvoy from the ER and had invited him to the party. Bad call, as far as I was concerned.

  Staring down at my feet, I bit back a sarcastic comment. Back off, Kelly, now’s not the time to be rude. He’s still your boss.

  I hid a sigh of defeat and stood up. Jen and Drake had their hands full with a few dozen guests, so the role of ambassador fell to me. Damn my traditional southern manners! The last thing I wanted to do was play hostess to this moral midget, but my heritage dictated otherwise.

  “Welcome to the family homestead.” I swept a hand around the backyard and waited while he checked out the several acres of lawn surrounding our huge pond. Fat cattails lined the edge, noisy bullfrogs had started their evening croaking in the rapidly dwindling light and I couldn’t help but be proud of the dock jutting out for several feet from the water’s edge. It was the last thing my dad and I built together.

  “Jesus, this land must be worth a fortune,” he whispered, scanning the property.

  Worth a fortune in memories, asshole .

  Stuffing the nasty retort, I replied instead, “I wouldn’t know. It’s been in the family for several generations. We’ve never felt the need to have it appraised.” Then, hoping to make him squirm, I asked, “Where’s Suzy?”

  I couldn’t help the dig. His fiancée, Suzy Chan, was a cardiologist at the hospital and cute as a button. Unfortunately, she showed remarkably poor judgment in the spouse-procurement department.

  Dickhead appeared uneasy for the briefest moment after my question, but recovered quickly. “She couldn’t make it.” More likely, he’d never asked her to come. His glance darted over to a surgically-enhanced blonde whom I recognized as the lovely widow Paula from down the lane. She caught his stare and shot him an inviting smile. Just like that and without another word to me, Dr. McAvoy trotted over to her, nearly tripping over his damned tongue in the process.

  “Hey,” said a low and sexy voice, distracting me.

  The typical southern greeting didn’t make me jump. It was the owner of the ‘hello’ who made my toes curl. I smiled up at Nick. Without a doubt, he had to be the most virile, stunning man who’d ever graced the planet. Bar none. My heart jigged but I pretended to focus on the plate he handed me. It wasn’t the food that truly had my attention though and I was pretty certain he knew it. It was him I wanted to eat.

  His shrewd look over his shoulder at McAvoy then back let me know he’d seen the distasteful exchange with my boss. “Was he giving you trouble?”

  Hmm, Nick had a
little bit of possessive caveman in him. I liked that. “No, I know him from work. He just reminded me what a jerk he is, that’s all.”

  Dark eyes searched my face before a decisive hand plucked the plate from my fingers and set it down on the chair. “Come on.”

  I didn’t question where he was taking me, but let him pull me off the patio and over the green lawn. I’d kicked off my sandals earlier in the evening and the cool dew on the grass caressed my feet as we walked. With my hand in his strong, warm grip, we strolled in silence and passed the many outbuildings that had cropped up over the last hundred years since my family owned the land. He guided me down toward the pond and when we reached the water’s edge, he stopped. The party murmured in the far distance but didn’t intrude on the moment.

  He took a deep breath and closed his eyes to the stillness. “This place is amazing.”

  Darkness had fallen and a rising full moon cast long white streaks across the calm water but I couldn’t stop staring at his strong profile or the way his face glowed in the silver-blue moonlight. He mesmerized me. Right then, he stole a little piece of my heart with his reverent words about our land. After McAvoy’s selfish comment, I appreciated Nick’s even more.

  He opened his eyes and smiled down at me. “Drake told me you’d grown up here.”

  I nodded and squeezed his hand. It felt so right and comforting in my own. “Jen and I were very fortunate. I’m glad her children will have the same opportunity.”

  He didn’t say anything for a long time but slipped a hand around my waist then we stood and absorbed the lovely early autumn night. When he turned to face me, I knew without a doubt he was going to kiss me. My breath caught and my heart tripped as he grasped my hips and pulled me flush against his hard body. My hands slid around his neck to bring him closer, his short hair surprisingly soft as it brushed my fingers. I stared at his full lips, licking my own in anticipation and rose up on my toes—