Blindsided (Sentinel Securities) (5 page)

This was interesting, better than she'd first suspected, and she eyed him curiously, "How
much
time?"

"Most of my adult life," he grinned.

"You must have gone through quite a bit to get that assortment of scars."

"I was usually in the thick of the action when I was in the service."

She could tell her questions were making him a little uncomfortable and decided to let him off the hook, not that he'd shown her the same consideration as he'd relentlessly pumped her about her personal life earlier. "So why have you
really
come over here tonight?"

"I told you, I wanted to make it up to you for this morning."

"I know what you told me, but I want to know what the real reason is."

"Why would you think there was another reason?"

"Because you don't seem the kind of man who would waste time on someone like me."

"What's that supposed to mean? Someone like you?"

"Call it a good guess. You have an expensive bike, you wear expensive clothes. My guess is you like to live life in the fast lane, push your limits and don't have time to waste on things like suburbia and family life."

She saw that her comments struck home and that he was trying to come up with some kind of argument. "Let me save you worming your way out of this. I've had my share of men who think they're invincible. I've had my share of men who are always trying to prove to everyone else how tough they are, and I've
definitely
had my share of men who like to push their luck, riding around on motorbikes. If I were
remotely
interested in getting involved with anyone again in the near future, I can assure you, it would
not
be with someone who reminds me of my past mistakes."

"I don't know what the last guy did to you, but I don't think it’s fair to lump all men in the same pile as him."

“I’m not lumping all men in the same pile—just the ones who like danger and motor bikes," she said with a small twist of her lips.

"I also have a car," he offered with an abashed smile.

"You've done your civic duty, so thank you for making sure I was all right. You are hereby released of any further guilt, obligations and responsibility."

"You're one tough cookie."

"You have no idea," she assured him, taking a step back to indicate he should get up and leave.

"Well, I can see I'll just have to work harder to prove you wrong then wont I?" he shrugged, without taking his gaze from her face.

The phone rang, and Briella sent him one last exasperated glare, before crossing the room to retrieve the handset. Turning her back on him, she recognised the voice of the nursing unit manager on the phone and immediately focused on the conversation.

She needed to find her roster details, and mouthing, "I'll be back in a minute,” to the man in the middle of her kitchen, she hurried to her bedroom to search through her handbag for the information she needed.

****

Nash waited until she left the room before doing a quick search of the kitchen. He had no real idea what he was looking for—this information could be anything from something scribbled on a piece of paper, to a memory stick or disc, easily hidden, and about as easy to locate in a few seconds as the proverbial needle in a haystack!

There was nothing he could see in the few minutes he had to spare before he heard her returning from the back of the unit, phone in hand, still talking to whoever it was on the other end. He was going to need to get back in here, which he could do now that he had the imprint of her keys in the moulding clay he'd brought with him in the pocket of his bike jacket. Although this neighbour who'd been calling to check on her earlier might make it a little trickier than he'd first anticipated. But not impossible.

"Sorry about that—work," she explained, her nose crinkling slightly as she replaced the phone on the kitchen bench and pinned a roster of her work hours on the cork board which hang on the front of the fridge.

"Gets in the way of everything doesn't it."

"Pays the bills though."

He took in her weary expression and wondered again, how a woman like this had gotten mixed up with a loser like Cruz. "Well, I guess I better go. Thanks for the coffee."

"I'm glad you're okay," she said as they walked from the kitchen back up the hallway to the front door.

"Are you doing anything tomorrow?"

"I'm working tomorrow, and I don't think it's a good idea to see each other again. I don't know what you want, but you won't find it here."

Nash wished she was right, but unfortunately he had a horrible feeling that she had exactly what he was after, and he'd better hurry up and find it before the Three
of
Swords idiots tracked her down.

He didn't bother contradicting her, he knew from the glance at her roster on the cork board as they'd walked past earlier, that she wasn't going to be home tomorrow, and that he'd be returning to search the flat while she was gone. A tug of regret pulled at his gut as he realised once he found it, he wouldn't have an excuse to come back and see her again.

Shaking himself from the sappy direction of his thoughts he started his bike and pulled on his helmet. She'd been eerily on the money with her earlier description of his lifestyle—she didn't miss much, that's for sure and he couldn't help the little ripple of admiration that ran through him as she'd pointed it out. He may appreciate her smarts—but damn, it was making his job a hell of a lot more difficult. Maybe he was losin’ his touch. He frowned a little at the thought. He’d become a lot more selective in recent years—now days there was nothing to prove—women weren’t the sport he’d once thought of them as. Right or wrong—it was a fact. It was part of their culture—maybe it had to do with the nature of their work, the danger, who knows. Maybe it was just testosterone and a bunch of young virile men with too much down time on their hands…whatever it was, he had a crap load of fond memories, but those days were long gone. Now he liked things a little slower on his down time…

Briella found herself oddly distracted the next day.

Each time she had a moment to herself, a chiselled jaw with dark stubble and laughing brown eyes kept elbowing its way into her mind.
Everything
about Jason Nash screamed trouble. She had a built in bad boy detector and it went off the Richter scale each time he came within five feet of her. It was enough to send her scuttling back into her carefully erected self-preservation shell. The one she’d built after her last encounter—the one that almost destroyed her.

Yet something about the man didn't add up. He wore the clothes of a bad boy. He had the confident walk of a bad boy, everything he did warned her that this man was not the nine to five, spend the weekend mowing the lawn kinda man she wanted…and yet she couldn't stop thinking about him.

"Brie, there you are?"

Briella looked up at her name being called, dragging her gaze from the manicured gardens, forcing a smile to her lips at the familiar face before her.

"I've been looking for you all morning. Should have known I'd find you out here."

Now this was more like it.
Steven was the kind of man she should be distracted with, not some good-looking, bike-riding, tough guy.

"You want to do something tonight?"

"I can't tonight."
What? Where on earth did that come from?
Another flash of that damn rugged face appeared before her eyes for an instant before she blinked it away.

"Oh. Okay. Well, maybe on the weekend…" Poor Steven, remorse filled her as he gave a shrug and an uncertain smile. "Maybe we could have lunch Friday and plan something for the weekend?"

This was the kind of man she needed in her life. Steven was dependable. He worked in hospital administration. He was safe and reliable. He was normal and
nice.

She saw his hopeful smile and instantly felt guilty.
What was wrong with her
?  Brie sipped at her coffee she'd brought out with her earlier and gave a slight grimace. While she'd been busy thinking about Mr
Unsuitable
, her coffee had gone cold.

She supposed it would have been better to have her break in the staff tearoom, where the noise and gossip of the other staff would have distracted her from wayward thoughts and she wouldn't have wasted a good coffee in the process, but she just wasn't in the mood for noise and chatter. She preferred it out here in the beautiful gardens with the warm sunshine on her shoulders and clean air.

“Can I just see how the week goes? I don’t like to ask Gladys to do too much babysitting out of hours.” Brie rarely ever asked Gladys to have Lucy for anything other than her work hours.
Her
time alone with Lucy was precious, seeing as she had to work. She loved being a mother, and would have loved to be a stay at home Mum had her circumstances been different…but they weren’t and there was no point in wishing for what couldn’t be. So, what time she
did
have with her child, she looked forward to, and counted her blessings that she had Gladys to fall back on.

“Of course. I understand completely,” Steven hastily agreed.

See? Nice. Polite. Undemanding. This was the kind of man she should be day dreaming about,
she told herself firmly. She tried to ignore the little scoff inside her head that pouted with its arms crossed in sulky silence.

****

"Looks like you might have some competition Nash, my man." Gracie murmured over his head set as he watched Briella sitting close to the man on the bench from his spot in the next section of gardens on the hospital grounds. He casually moved his backpack by his feet sideways to allow the small camera installed inside to catch the image of their mark and her companion, sending it back to the office where the others were watching the broadcast.

"Who's this joker?” Mac asked, frowning at the screen before him.

"Doesn't look like a problem." Nash shrugged.

"Since when have you ever dismissed something as not a problem before we've checked it out?" Mac asked.

"Since I can see she's not even into him. He's obviously a work colleague."

"
She
might not be into
him
, but he's into her. We don't want some jealous boyfriend nosin' around before we get what we came for. This could be a problem."

"Then I'll have to make sure he's not a problem won't I?"

"Where you going?" Mac called out as Nash stood up and walked toward his bike.

"Call Gracie back. I'm taking over detail."

****

Nash guided his bike to a stop in the hospital car park and removed his helmet. He'd made a detour before arriving in order to execute his plan. He didn't know who the guy was Brie was talking to earlier, but he could definitely tell there wasn't the same spark of chemistry between her and this bloke, that'd been there between himself and Brie.
He was only doing this to protect the job,
he told himself.
All that hard work gaining Brie's confidence would be undone if he allowed some other guy to muscle in on his territory.
His step faltered slightly at that thought.
Territory
? Surely he'd meant to say client…there wasn't anything territorial about this—she was just part of a job. An
important
job, but never the less, just a job. His frown darkened as he went
through
the front door of the hospital in search of Briella and caught a glance of his reflection in the shiny silver of the elevator doors. The scowl and clenched fists reflected back at him were not going to help to reassure her he was trustworthy. He forced a calmness he wasn't feeling to his expression and concentrated on the task at hand.

****

Briella stared at the notes she was writing up, trying to keep her mind busy and off certain subjects she didn't want to think about. She heard the elevator doors slide open, and bit back a tired sigh as she caught movement in her peripheral vision of the occupants heading straight for her position at the nurse’s station. She was tired and she knew she needed to get over it, but dealing with people–other than patients, was asking a lot of her limited tolerance today.

Lifting her gaze, her polite smile slipped and she felt her eyes widen in surprise. Maybe she was losing it…maybe she'd been thinking so much about this guy he'd materialised before her eyes.

"Hello Brie."

"What are you doing here?" At the slight cock of his eyebrow, she instantly felt like a moron
. Way to be cool, calm and collected Briella!
 

"It's nice to see you
,
too." His smile softened the sarcasm slightly but she saw a flicker of uncertainly, a ghost of emotion pass briefly across his face and was instantly contrite.

"Sorry, you just surprised me. I wasn't expecting you to come here."

"Is that a problem?"

"No."
Why do you feel so guilty that someone might see you talking to him then
? A small voice whispered. "Are you here because of your shoulder?"