Things We Hide from the Light (Knockemout Series, 2)

I flipped the bird to my federal shadow in the parking lot, dropped Piper off at my place, and then grudgingly headed next door. Lina’s door loomed in front of me like a castle wall. There was music coming from inside. Something with a driving beat. Something that said “Beware: Angry Woman.” I hesitated for a second, then knocked hard.

The door swung open almost immediately, and I blinked in surprise when Mrs. Tweedy appeared in the doorway. She was holding her usual evening glass of bourbon on the rocks and dressed in her usual uniform of workout tights, tunic, and frosty pink lipstick. Her white hair was tall and poufy, adding another four inches to her five foot even frame.

I checked the apartment number, wondering how in the hell I’d knocked on the wrong door.

“Well, if it isn’t Studly Do-Right,” she said in her southern twang. The ice in her glass clinked merrily.

2B. Right next door to my place. I hadn’t gotten the wrong place. Mrs. Tweedy was answering the wrong door.

“Lina here?” I asked.

“Nope. I’m breaking and entering. Wanna cuff me?” She held up her hands, wrists together, and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

January Tweedy was feisty enough at 76 that I shuddered to think what she’d been like as a teenager.

Lina appeared in the doorway behind her and I breathed a sigh of relief.

“What can I do for you, Chief ?” Lina asked. Her tone was icy. “Do you need to know what I had for lunch today? A list of every person I’ve spoken to since I got here?”

“I’m on that list. We’re BFFFs,” Mrs. Tweedy piped up.

“BFFFs?” I repeated.

“Best fuckin’ friends forever,” she said. “You got a problem with Lina here? You’ve got a bigger problem with me. Oh, also I need you to stop by and fish my watch out of the garbage disposal again.”

Lina’s lips quirked. But all amusement vanished when she caught me looking at her.

“Mrs. Tweedy, if you let me speak to Lina in private, I’ll stop by after to get your watch out of the sink.”

“And hang my new shower curtain.”

“Another new shower curtain? What the hell happened to the last one?”

She took a rebellious sip of bourbon. “That sounds like a no to me, don’t it, Lina?”

“It sure wasn’t a yes,” she agreed.

“Fine. Watch and shower curtain. Now go away,” I said.

Mrs. Tweedy patted me on the cheek. “You’re a good boy, Nash. Try not to leave your head up your ass for too long. Sooner or later, the condition’s permanent.” She turned to Lina. “See you at the gym tomorrow morning. Bright and early!”

“It was nice meeting you,” Lina called after her.

All amusement disappeared the second the door closed across the hall.

“If you came here to continue your interrogation—”

I rested my forearm on her doorframe. “No, ma’am.”

“Don’t you ‘ma’am’ me. This is northern Virginia. Y’all barely say y’all here. You can’t ‘aw shucks’ your way out of this.”

Mrs. Tweedy’s door cracked open behind me.

“I came to apologize,” I said, ignoring the eavesdropping audience.

Lina crossed her arms.

“Not gonna make it easy on me, are you?”

“Why should I?”

I decided to push my luck. I put a hand on her shoulder and gently but firmly backed her inside, then shut the door behind me.

“Sure. Come on in. Make yourself at home,” she said dryly.

It didn’t look as though she’d done much on that front.

The only personal belongings I spotted were a houseplant hanging out in one of the front windows and that box of files on her table.

I backed her up another step and then removed my hand. “Turn down the music. Please,” I added when she shot me eye daggers.

She made me wait long enough that I thought I was going to have to do it myself before she finally walked over to the table and picked up her phone. The music lowered to a dull roar.

It didn’t escape me that she took a detour to put the lid back on the files.

“You ever have a near-death experience?” I asked her.

She went still.

“As a matter of fact, I have,” she said evenly.

“I’m gonna want some answers on that later,” I warned her after a beat. “But for now, I’ll assume that you know better than most what it’s like to wake up and realize you’re still here when you almost weren’t.”

She didn’t give me anything other than a level stare from those whiskey-colored eyes.

I blew out a restless breath. “Angel, I almost bled out in a ditch. Most of me is still here, but part of me didn’t make it out. If you’re here because of any part of that, I deserve to know.”

She closed her eyes for a beat, long lashes fringing tan skin.

When she opened her eyes, she held my gaze. “I’m not here for you.”

It rang like the truth.

“Is that all you’re willing to give me?” I pressed.

She pursed her lips. “We’ll see how the apology part of your presentation goes. And it better include an ‘I’m sorry I’m a dumbass and let a U.S. marshal think we’d had sex.’”

“I’m sorry for the interrogation. I don’t have my feet under me, and I’m just doin’ the best I can in a shit situation. It felt like you were hiding something, especially when I saw Pain in My Ass Mustache making a move on you this morning. I’m used to trusting my gut. Still getting used to the fact that I can’t anymore.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Why can’t you?”

“Because I walked right on up to that car.”

Lina dropped her arms to her sides and let out a sound of aggravation. “Now, how’s a girl supposed to hold a grudge against the whole broody, wounded hero routine?”

“I’m hopin’ she can’t,” I admitted.

She drew in a breath and let it out. “Fine. I am in town looking for something.” She held up a finger in my direction when I opened my mouth. “I didn’t come here because someone put a bullet or two in you. I’m looking for something someone stole from a client. A couple of leads pointed me in this direction. Nolan and I crossed paths years ago on a different job. I didn’t know he was in town and vice versa.”

“Are you planning to cross paths with him while you’re both here?”

There was about two feet of space between us and I swear I felt the air crackle like lightning was about to strike.

“I’m wondering why you would think that was your business,” she said.

“I’ll tell you if you say you accept my apology.”

“Fine. Apology accepted.”

“You’re quick,” I observed.

“Quit stalling,” she ordered.

“I’m gonna be honest here and you’re probably not gonna like it.”

“Only one way to find out.”

“I like stirring you up. I provoked you, and for that I’m mostly sorry,” I admitted.

“Why?”

“Why am I sorry?”

“No. Much as you acted like it this morning and tonight, you’re not an idiot. You know I could be a scary neighbor to piss off. Why did you provoke me?” she asked.

“You make me feel things. And after going long enough without feeling anything, feeling something—even if it’s anger or adrenaline—is better than the nothing.”

The spark of light in her eyes turned to a smolder.

I took a slow step toward her. “Every time I’m near you, every time you laugh or look at me like you’re looking right now or get pissed off, I feel something.”

“What kind of something?”

I took another step and closed the distance between us.

“Good,” I said, taking a chance and cupping my hands loosely around her biceps. She didn’t pull away. “Though to be honest, good is pretty much anything other than what I’ve been feeling. I might be working up the courage to fight for the right to stay close. I can’t do that if you’ve got another man in your bed.”

She pursed her lips and considered. “There’s no one occupying that space at the moment,” she said finally.

“Does it bother you when I touch you?” I asked.

She rolled her eyes. “I take it Knox opened his big mouth?”

“He may have mentioned you had a problem.”

“Yet here you are with your hands on me,” she pointed out. “Pretty ballsy of you.”

“My brother was surprised you’d let me get this close to you with said balls attached. It got me wondering. What if?”

“What if what?”

“What if you like me touching you as much as I like touching you?”

I was close enough to kiss her. It would be easy enough to lean down and close the distance. To feel that smart mouth under mine and taste those secrets. Something about this felt so right. So fucking inevitable.

“All right. I’ll play. What if I do?” She had flecks of gold and topaz in those brown eyes that were sizing me up.

“What if you let me get closer?”

She quirked an eyebrow. “Exactly how much closer?”

I took half a step into her, bringing my body flush with hers. Every nerve in my body fired to life at the contact as if she were jumper cables and I was a dead battery.

“As close as you’ll let me. I don’t just want this, Angelina. I need this.”

“Are you saying you want me to be some kind of emotional support fuck?”

“I’m sayin’ I want to get as close to you as you’ll let me. The closer I get to you, the better I feel. Like right now,” I said softly. “I feel like I can finally breathe easy.”

She brought a hand to my chest and pressed it there. “That’s…a lot of pressure.”

“I know it,” I admitted. This wasn’t looking for a one-night stand. This was a quest for an anchor. Something I could hang on to in the storm. “Cards on the table?”

“Why stop now?”

“There’s a whole lot of reasons why you should say no. Not the least of which is I’m damaged enough to know there’s a chance I might not ever be right again.”

“Nobody’s perfect,” she said with a quirk of those soft, full lips.

I skimmed my hands up her arms and then back down just to feel the softness of her sweater, the warmth of her body. “Knox doesn’t want us anywhere near each other.”

“Too bad for him I hate being told what to do,” she said, bringing her other hand to my chest. She pressed it there and I leaned into the touch.

“I hate surprises and I don’t tolerate lies. Not even the little ones.”

“I despise boredom and routine. Some would even say I invite drama.”

“Until this summer, I was pretty set on finding a wife. Starting a family,” I confessed.

She let out a nervous laugh. “Okay. That one scared me a little. Now what are you set on?”

“Feeling alive.”

Her gaze locked on mine and it felt like the midday sun warming me down to my core.

“And you think I can help with that?” she asked.

My heart was beating strong against my sternum. An answering pulse echoed throughout my body, warming my blood, stirring my cock. “Angel, you already have.”

Her eyes went wide and I wondered if I’d gone too far.

“You’re not my type,” she said finally.

“I know.”

“I’m not planning on sticking around.”

“Got that too.”

“You just said you were looking for a wife, Nash.”

“I was. Now I’m just looking to get through the day.”

She blew out a breath that I could feel.

We kept getting closer and closer. Standing in the middle of her mostly empty apartment, we filled the space around us with heat. Her breasts brushed my chest, bare feet skimming the toes of my boots. My breath stirred her hair.

“Need to ask you something else,” I said.

“If it’s my mother’s maiden name and the last four digits of my social security number, I’m going to realize this is a really elaborate scam.”

I ran a finger down her sharp jaw. “Do you like it when I touch you?”

A shiver ran through her. “Why?”

“You know why. But I want you to say it. Cards on the table.”

Her face softened. “I don’t seem to mind when it’s your hands doing the touching, hotshot.”

“If that changes, I need to know. Immediately.”

She hesitated before nodding.

“Yeah?” I pressed.

She nodded again. “Yeah.”

I took one of her hands from my chest and slid it over my shoulder. Then I did the same with the other. She felt warm, alive, and so fucking soft against me. I shifted my weight to one foot, swaying us to the side.

“We can’t slow dance to the Struts,” she pointed out as the driving beat of “Could Have Been Me” thumped.

“Looks like that’s exactly what we’re doing.”

She let out a shaky breath. I brushed a fingertip to the pulse in her neck. Despite her calm exterior, her pulse fluttered under my touch.

“Is you monitoring your heart rate part of that near-death story?” I asked her.

She paused midsway, then bit her lip, looking uncertain for the first time I could remember. “I think maybe we’ve had enough honesty for one night,” she said.

I didn’t agree. But I was a patient man. I’d unravel every one of those secrets she held back until she was laid as bare as I was. I tucked her head under my chin, then slid my hands under the hem of her cardigan to touch the skin of her back. Breathing in the scents of shampoo and laundry detergent, I held her to me like she was precious cargo and swayed.

I was hard again. One thing was for sure, Lina Solavita knew how to make a man feel alive.

I was so focused on absorbing all the soft and warm she had to offer that Lina reacted to the knock at the door first.

“This shower curtain ain’t gonna hang itself, Chief,” Mrs. Tweedy bellowed.

“Fuck,” I muttered.

“I guess you’d better go,” Lina said, her arms slipping free of my neck.

“Guess so. Think about what I said?”

“I might not think about anything else,” she confessed with a wry smile.

Gently, I cupped her face in my hands and moved in. But instead of going for those full lips that parted when I was just a breath away, I pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“Thanks for the dance, Angel.”