“Got it. Hit me.” His grim expression as he braced himself for the next round was almost comical. She bit her lip.
“This will make it feel better, promise.” She poured directly on the bridge of his nose, and when he lifted his lids she splashed milk into each eye, and he made sure he blinked several times instead of screwing his eyes shut again. “You’ve done this before, Agent St. Clair.”
“There are a lot of things I’ve done before, Bella Colton.”
* * *
“I’m talking about the milk, and pepper spray.” Her hands shook and he didn’t think it was from the weight of the carton. She was the wrong woman during the wrong investigation, or he’d enjoy the thrill of knowing he’d gotten under her skin.
Thank goodness she’d insisted on helping him with the milk. His eyes still hurt but at least it didn’t feel like fire ants were crawling over them and up his nose any longer.
“To answer your question, I’ve had training in countermeasures for everything from pepper spray to chemical warfare. Where did you learn the milk antidote?”
“My brother, of course. Lean back again.” She waited until he was in position and then poured more of the cold elixir on his eyes, his skin. “I made him tell me about everything he learned at the police academy, and he still fills me in about his more interesting cases, as much as he’s able. He doesn’t reveal any confidential material, of course. He had to take tear gas and pepper spray at the police academy. Do you do the same at the FBI Academy?”
“Yes, in Quantico. Virginia. But your brother and I went through a lot of combat training together in the military, and in particular we did the tear-gas training at the same time.” He remembered meeting Spencer and admiring how cool he stayed under high-pressure situations. They’d both gone on to reach US Army captain, before leaving for their respective careers in law enforcement.
“I know where Quantico is. I visited an old boyfriend there once, to see him finish Officer Basic. He was a marine.”
“Uh, I know who else trains at Quantico.” He couldn’t help the tiny dig. “What happened to him?” He hadn’t missed her old-boyfriend reference.
“He deployed overseas for nearly two years. I waited, but by the time he came back we were kaput. Too young to survive that many miles for so long. Plus, I happen to have two very overprotective brothers. No man has gotten past their scrutiny yet.”
Holden shook his head, wiped his face with the paper towels she handed him, letting the last of the milk drip off him and into the sink. He lifted his head, stood up and took ahold of the milk. “Thank you.” He looked at her with a clear gaze for the first time. And saw her brilliant green eyes wide and...aware. Of his every move. Heat roiled in his gut.
Can it. She’s Spencer’s sister.
“No problem.” She threw the empty milk container out, cleaned up the sink. He moved to help but she waved him away. “Are you going to tell me why you’re on assignment here, during the Ms. Mustang Valley Pageant?”
His eyes were calming down and he couldn’t stop his gaze from resting on her. And imagining the direction this conversation would go if they hadn’t met in the middle of a probable serial-killer case, if she wasn’t related to the one man he trusted with his life. He couldn’t give any woman more than today, not after how his ex, Nicole, had burned him. Long-term love wasn’t in his cards.
And Bella Colton was the kind of woman you didn’t mess around with to ease an itch. Bella struck him as a forever woman—either you gave her everything, or didn’t start anything.
Holden knew where that left him.
* * *
Holden’s silence unnerved Bella as she threw the last of the wet paper towels away, the scent of milk still clinging to the staff-room air. But how could she blame him? He’d survived a pepper-spray attack only minutes before yet he was already in control of himself, and clearly demanded control of their discussion. Bella wanted to be annoyed, angry, furious at this stranger who, in some ways, knew her brother better than she did. Yet Holden exuded a sense of realness, a grounded energy she hadn’t experienced with another man. As if he was a man she could truly trust.
Whoa, girl, back
it up.
Bella trusted no man besides her brothers. She didn’t know Holden from a hole in an Arizona butte. Just because being alone with an attractive man wasn’t something she’d done in a long while didn’t mean she could let her physical needs dictate her reaction to him.
“Don’t make me ask again, Holden. Please.”
“Tell me why you entered the contest first.” He volleyed the query with complete equanimity. Oh, yeah, Holden St. Clair was a man with his stuff in one sock.
She blinked, ignored the shiver of awareness that was getting too familiar around him. “Why do you think? You heard my interview. I need the scholarship prize.”
“So you said. To go to nursing school. And as much as you just handled my injuries with ease, need I remind you that you inflicted them? I’d think someone who wanted to go into any kind of medicine wouldn’t want to hurt a fly.”
“You were stalking me.”
“I was protecting you from your attacker.”
“Give me a break, Holden. If that’s true, you must have seen me earlier with Spencer. You knew he’d keep me safe. Yet you followed me in here. That’s pretty creepy, if you ask me.” Her hands began to shake and she didn’t have to question why. The mere mention of the attack must be triggering an unconscious memory.