Kai rubbed the kitten’s back, his hand longer than its spine. Scooping it up, he held the tiny body against his chest, then looked up at the sound of the front door opening down the road. He turned his head to see a young woman with a toddler on her hip walk out onto her small porch, a cup of coffee in her free hand. Her blond hair was mussed and her bare legs beneath her belted robe were long, slim, and tanned. She turned as a man stepped into the space behind her, ready for his morning run, and placed his hands on her hips, turning her around to kiss her mouth. He said something, and she laughed. He grinned before kissing the child’s head and walking away from the house to do some stretches next to the shiny Lexus sitting in front of the garage. His branded T-shirt stretched across his paunchy stomach and his perfectly straight, blindingly white teeth flashed as he carried on the conversation from his position on the driveway.
Look at him, Kai thought, with his perfect house and his blond, beautiful wife. His shiny car and his cute kid. Getting some exercise in before going off to his job in finance or insurance or sales, so damn smug in his belief that he was living the dream.
The itch intensified and Kai rolled his shoulders before putting his hand down the back of his T-shirt to try to reach the spot. He hissed a quiet curse when the prickles moved just out of reach.
Unlike Lexus-boy, he didn’t have anything tethering him to this town—no wife, no child, no property. He glanced down at the kitten, who’d fallen asleep in the crook of his arm. No animals. He hadn’t had the opportunity to go to a fancy college and he’d had more doors shut in his face than that guy could imagine. He’d scratched and clawed and kicked and pushed his way through life, and his path had never been paved. His entire life had been a freakin’ battle.
Abattle. The word echoed in his head and he rubbed a hand over his face. And maybe that was the reason for his recent funk, his sleepless nights, why he was more churlish than usual. He had nothing to rage against, no major obstacle to overcome. He had everything he ever thought he needed, and yet he felt more unsettled than ever before. He’d always expected his life to make complete sense when he was finally financially secure, when he was seen to be, and was, successful.
Kai looked at the jogger’s retreating back and shook his head, wishing he could also tell Mr Happy that his pretty little town sucked balls. And what, he silently demanded, admittedly bitching like a cheated whore, what was with the town council’s decision to keep all franchise and chain stores out of the town? Why should he have to drive fifteen minutes to get a Big Mac? Whose stupid-ass idea was that? Maybe if they slapped up a couple of strip malls and some generic fast food joints the town would look like a town and not like a freaking Hallmark movie set.
A town like this was okay for dreaming about when you were a kid—along with the parents and the big backyard and the goofy dog—but the reality of it made him feel nauseous. Buying the premises Cas was housed on would mean tying himself to Mercy and putting down roots, and he didn’t think he could do that. He’d never been tied to anyone or anything and the notion of settling in this town—settlingforthis town—turned the itch into a burn.
It was all just too much cute. He gently lowered the kitten to the step beside him, watching as it stretched in the early morning sunlight, thinking that he was SEAL, ex–Team Six. A hard-ass, hard-bodied, hard-minded man who took no shit, from anyone, ever. He rubbed a spot under the kitten’s chin and a look of bliss appeared on its face. He was an insensitive asshole. He’d been told that many times and he believed it. He didn’t know how to cute. Or cope with pretty. And normal.
The kitten meowed, nudged his hand, and cocked his head when Kai ran his knuckle over its ear.
And, dammit, he was sick of not being able to buy a Big Mac, a decent cup of coffee, or scratch the damned itch on his back.
Less than a week, he reminded himself. On Friday he’d be on a flight to Aberdeen, Scotland, to train the security team on one of the world’s biggest oil exploration ships. Surely he wouldn’t go nuts in five days.
“So, are you going to sit on your ass all day glaring into space or are we going to run?” Sawyer demanded from somewhere above his head. “Hey, little guy, where did you come from?”
Kai presumed Sawyer was talking to the cat and not to him. He abruptly dropped his hand and tipped his head back to look up at Sawyer. “About time you made an appearance. That stuff you drink every morning that turns you into a human is losing its potency.”
“It’s affected by your particular brand of horseshit,” Sawyer replied after yawning. “My life is so much easier when you’re halfway across the world.”
The kitten moved away and hopped down the steps to the porch.
Kai rose to his feet in an easy movement and followed Sawyer to the road. After stretching, he lifted his eyebrows at Sawyer. “Think you can keep up with me, Nancy?”
“Screw you, grandpa,” Sawyer replied. “I whipped your ass in that triathlon.”
“You got lucky. And I had a cold.”
Sawyer rolled his eyes. “That pansy-assed excuse again? Face it, you’re getting old and slow.”
“Face it, you’re an asshole.”
Satisfied that they’d fulfilled their duty to start off their morning by insulting each other, they hit the road, long legs easily eating up the tar.
Chapter Two
SawyersFutureWife:Yeah, get well Ms. Sturgiss. And, ladies, for an early morning treat—something other than Flick’s muffins—get up early and watch Sawyer run the route along the river. It’s two for the price of one at the moment because one of his far-too-often absent partners is in town and is running with him.
Holycrapadoodle! Smokin’ hot!
“Three months,” Sawyer said. “I think that’s one of the shortest stints you’ve had away from Cas and Mercy. I take it that Sheikh What’s-His-Name is happy?” Their sneakers slapped the pavement in downtown Mercy, the air holding a bite suggesting that autumn was not playing around.
“He doesn’t have any complaints,” Kai replied, his breathing unchanged even though they’d completed four of the five miles of their customary early-morning run. “I’m worried though.”
“Why?”
“I had to condense five months of intensive training into three months, and while I think his people are good, I don’t know that they’re good enough.”
“That’s why we got him to sign that waiver.”
“A waiver won’t be worth jack shit if he gets taken out,” Kai muttered.